In the News: Coal States Uncertain of Industry’s Future
Mark Snead quoted on the prospects for coal producing states at Governing.com... http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/coal-states-fear-for-future-of-the-industry.html
Are U.S. States Equally Prepared for a Carbon-Constrained World? (2010)
The Kansas City Fed’s Ten Magazine recently profiled an article I wrote with Amy Jones on how the 50 states stack up in terms of preparedness for carbon constraints. For many states, particularly energy and ag states, not very well.
The full article is available online at www.KansasCityFed.org http://www.kansascityfed.org/publicat/econrev/pdf/10q4Snead_Jones.pdf
“The findings suggest that the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and West Coast states are generally best prepared. These states have the least energy-intensive economies and use fuel mixes with low average carbon intensity; hence, they already release proportionately less CO2 . The states expected to be hardest hit by carbon constraints are the traditional energy-producing and agricultural states. These states have energy-intensive economies, by both domestic and international standards, and will face a considerable challenge in altering their energy use and emissions patterns.”
The included graph illustrates the role of income level in energy use and emissions. Consistent with existing international research, states with lower GDP per capita tend to be more carbon and energy intensive.