Climate change costs outweigh benefits

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A University of Maryland study has concluded that the negative economic impact of climate change on the United States will outweigh any possible benefits.

The university's Center for Integrative Environmental Research said the exact price tag of climate change's future impact on the United States is impossible to predict, but the authors wrote that public budgets will be strained and the costs of cooling U.S. homes will skyrocket, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

"Economic costs of climate change will occur throughout the country," said Matthias Ruth, the study's lead author. "We've connected the dots as far as the data would allow."

The study predicts that temporary benefits of global warming will be felt by the mid-Atlantic's agricultural sector, but the benefits will be offset by costs including an estimated nearly $2 billion Hawaii will be forced to spend on upgrading its drinking water and wastewater facilities over the course of the next 20 years.