Rand Paul Vows To Repeal ‘Illegal’ EPA Climate Rule

[Cebu_4_2]

Rand Paul Vows To Repeal ‘Illegal’ EPA Climate Rule

1:21 PM 06/02/2014

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is not happy about the Environmental Protection Agency’s new carbon dioxide emissions limits for power plants, arguing it is an “illegal use of executive power.”

Paul has vowed to force a vote on the EPA’s rule to repeal it.

“This latest assault on our economy by President Obama will destroy jobs here in Kentucky and across the country, and will hurt middle class families by hiking their utility bills and straining their budgets,” said Paul in a statement.
“The excessive rule is an illegal use of executive power, and I will force a vote to repeal it,” Paul added.

Kentucky is the country’s third largest coal producing state and employs thousands of miners. The state has already been hard hit by federal environmental regulation which have seen thousands of coal jobs leave the state and force the closing of coal mines and power plants.

“By imposing these draconian new rules on the nation’s coal industry, President Obama and every other liberal lawmaker in Washington who quietly supports them is also picking regional favorites, helping their political supporters in states like California and New York while inflicting acute pain on states like Kentucky,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Paul’s fellow Kentucky senator.

McConnell has already challenged (http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/207659-gao-shuts-down-mcconnells-push-to-block-epa-carbon-reg) the Obama administration’s rule by trying to block it using the Congressional Review Act. However, the Government Accountability Office shut down McConnell’s effort to block the rule, saying the CRA can’t be used until the rule is finalized.

The EPA announced its new rule to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants on Monday. The agency is seeking to cut carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2030, a rule that the EPA says will cost the energy industry up to $9 billion — an estimate far below what others have projected.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce predicted (http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/30/report-epa-climate-rule-will-cripple-coal-industry-cost-224000-jobs/) the EPA’s climate rule would cost the economy $50 billion per year and kill 224,000 annually. The South and other coal heavy regions would bear the brunt of these costs because of their reliance on coal power.
“Overall, the South Atlantic will be hit the hardest in terms of GDP and employment declines. Its GDP losses make up about one-fifth of total U.S.,” the Chamber’s report predicted. “This region also will have an average of 60,000 fewer jobs over the 2014-30 forecast period, hitting a 171,000 job loss trough in 2022.”

“The impact on individuals and families and entire regions of the country will be catastrophic, as a proud domestic industry is decimated — and many of its jobs shipped overseas,” McConnell added. “In short, the downstream effects of today’s announcement will be staggering for millions.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/02/rand-paul-vows-to-repeal-illegal-epa-climate-rule/#ixzz33atAMUpq

[Cebu_4_2]

Unions Slam Obama EPA Rule

Mine workers union says regulations will cost 152,000 jobs


http://s2.freebeacon.com/up/2013/10/AP499677158024.jpg (http://freebeacon.com/issues/unions-slam-obama-epa-rule/)

Wyoming coal mining / AP

BY: Lachlan Markay (http://freebeacon.com/author/lachlan-markay/)
June 2, 2014 4:34 pm

Labor unions criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s new regulations on carbon emissions from power plants on Monday, highlighting growing tensions between the environmentalist and working class arms of the Democratic Party.

Those tensions have come to the forefront as leading Democrats embrace environmentalist policies backed by billionaire political donors that are generally opposed by members of the party’s rank and file base.

Some labor unions, groups generally considered loyally Democratic, rebelled on Monday after the EPA released its new regulations, which studies have suggested will carry hefty economic costs.

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) president Cecil Roberts blasted (http://www.umwa.org/?q=news/epa-existing-source-emissions-rule-puts-american-jobs-risk-does-nothing-address-climate-change) the proposal, saying it would leave tens of thousands of the union’s members unemployed.

“The proposed rule … will lead to long-term and irreversible job losses for thousands of coal miners, electrical workers, utility workers, boilermakers, railroad workers and others without achieving any significant reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions,” Roberts said in a statement.

According to a UMWA analysis, Roberts said, the rule will cause 75,000 job losses in the coal sector by 2020, rising to 152,000 by 2035.

“When a U.S. government economic multiplier used to calculate the impact of job losses is applied to the entire economy, we estimate that the total impact will be about 485,000 permanent jobs lost,” Roberts said.

Other studies have also found that the rule will lead to significant job losses. An analysis (http://www.energyxxi.org/sites/default/files/file-tool/Executive_Summary_EPA_Regs.pdf) commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that the regulations will “lead to an average of 224,000 fewer U.S. jobs every year through 2030.”

The regulations also drew fire on Monday from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which warned they “focus solely on the environmental aspect of public policy at the expense of balancing our nation’s economic and energy needs.”

The IBEW cautioned against attempts to reduce carbon emissions “at the expense of a balanced energy portfolio capable of meeting the demands of modern society.”

“The jobs of thousands of working men and women and the well-being of their communities are also worthy of saving,” the union said.
IBEW has previously split with President Barack Obama on key aspects of his energy policy agenda, including the Keystone XL pipeline, which the president has repeatedly refused to approve.

The union has called (http://www.ibew.org/articles/12Daily/1201/Keystone-XL-PR-1-18-12.pdf) Keystone “a vital project that would create 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs, generate $585 million in state and local taxes plus another $5 billion in property taxes and strengthen North America’s energy independence.”

That project has also accentuated divides between the Democratic Party’s environmentalist and working class supporters. A number of labor unions, including IBEW, support the project. However, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer has promised to spend $100 million in favor of candidates who oppose the pipeline despite its massive popularity (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/keystone-xl-poll_n_4919025.html).

Some unions have blasted the president’s apparent political motives in delaying the pipeline, most recently in mid-April.
“It’s clear the administration needs to grow a set of antlers, or perhaps take a lesson from Popeye and eat some spinach,” the president of the Laborers International Union of North America said (http://freebeacon.com/issues/unions-slam-obama-epa-rule/It%25E2%2580%2599s%2520clear%2520the%2520Administr ation%2520needs%2520to%2520grow%2520a%2520set%2520 of%2520antlers,%2520or%2520perhaps%2520take%2520a% 2520lesson%2520from%2520Popeye%2520and%2520eat%252 0some%2520spinach.) at the time.

[mick silver]

we are already seeing the job losses in ky and more to come . just take a drive in parts on eastern ky and you will see what I am saying

[goldleaf]

I read an article in a farm publication saying that most farm fields, and especially alfalfa need added sulfur fertilizer. It stated that there had always been enough sulfur in the rainwater so that no additional inputs were required . Looks like smokestack scrubbers or whatever they use have done whay they are supposed to do.