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Harry Alford, co-founder and president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce published a piece recently highlighting the damage the EPA’s new Clean Power Plan stands to inflict on African-Americans with small businesses and those with low incomes. It is already clear that the Clean Power Plan stands to drastically increase energy costs for all consumers. According to Alford’s piece, enrollment in LIHEAP (the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) has been steadily increasing each year already, even without the burden of the Clean Power Plan. It only stands to get worse if the plan is implemented.

Alford also points out that the Clean Power Plan will destroy many thousands of jobs in one fell swoop, without much promise for creating new ones. With unemployment rates for African Americans already averaging at double the rate for whites, the plan will disproportionately harm many African Americans who are already down on their luck. In closing, Alford ponders, and justifiably so, the investments that African-Americans have made, and how the Clean Power Plan hints at a distinct unwillingness on the government’s part to give back;

“African-American businesses were being created at a steady rate prior to the economic crash in 2008. We have worked to get back to that level of growth, driven by both the desire to both contribute to our own communities and to help rebuild the broader U.S. economy, but not without sacrifices or toil. However, even before any action has been taken by the EPA on their latest proposal, energy costs continue to increase, while the median household income has decreased for African-American families. Our members have invested in their businesses, and in their employees; shouldn’t our government be willing to make the same investments in us?”

You can read his entire piece here.