Democratic Senator: Environmental Protection Agency Out of Control

True to his word, for once, obama and his thugs are making every effort to bankrupt the coal industry. The thing is though, there is nothing to replace the energy produced by the coal fired plants. It takes about a thousand years to permit and build a nuclear powered plant, and after the mess in Japan, everyone has cold feet about them. So basically, coal fired plants will shut down and there will be nothing to pick up the slack. Electricity prices will go through the roof, hundreds of jobs will be lost and our Country will slip further into the economic mess we are currently drowning in.

Everyday that this administration is in power, we inch closer to torches and pitchforks. It's fairly easy to ignore the destructive actions of this gang of thugs until it affects you. But what the apathetic in this Country need to understand, if their actions affect one of us the affect all of us.

Those higher energy bills will affect millions of people. The loss of hundreds of jobs will hurt entire communities. There seems to be no end to the ways obama can screw us over...

By Susan Jones - CNSNews

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, the former governor of coal-producing West Virginia, is blasting the Obama administration for using the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate coal-fueled power plants out of business.

On Thursday, American Electric Power company announced that to comply with a series of EPA regulations, it will close five coal-fired plants -- three in West Virginia and one each in Ohio and Virginia -- at a net cost of 600 jobs.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states.

"We have worked for months to develop a compliance plan that will mitigate the impact of these rules for our customers and preserve jobs, but because of the unrealistic compliance timelines in the EPA proposals, we will have to prematurely shut down nearly 25 percent of our current coal-fueled generating capacity, cut hundreds of good power plant jobs, and invest billions of dollars in capital to retire, retrofit and replace coal-fueled power plants," said AEP Chairman and CEO Michael G. Morris.

"The sudden increase in electricity rates and impacts on state economies will be significant at a time when people and states are still struggling,” he added.

The plant closures in West Virginia alone will result in 242 lost jobs -- "and that's simply wrong," Manchin said:

“Let me be clear, it’s decisions like the one made by AEP today that demonstrate the urgent need to rein in government agencies like the EPA, preventing them from overstepping their bounds and imposing regulations that not only cost us good American jobs, but hurt our economy.

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Coal Regs Would Kill Jobs, Boost Energy Bills

In tough economic times, there is no better way to jump start things than by increasing people's electric bills by almost 25%. The epa and the obama administration are 100% clueless. These assholes will not be happy until we are all living in caves.

My gasoline bill has increased by twice, if my electric bill goes way up I might as well quit my job and sit at home collecting welfare. Maybe that is their plan, break us all and force us onto the welfare rolls. The only thing wrong with that stupid plan is this, when everyone is on welfare, whos gonna pay for it?

By Paul Bedard - US News and World Report

Two new EPA pollution regulations will slam the coal industry so hard that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost, and electric rates will skyrocket 11 percent to over 23 percent, according to a new study based on government data.

Overall, the rules aimed at making the air cleaner could cost the coal-fired power plant industry $180 billion, warns a trade group.

“Many of these severe impacts would hit families living in states already facing serious economic challenges,” said Steve Miller, president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. “Because of these impacts, EPA should make major changes to the proposed regulations before they are finalized,” he said.

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EPA Regulations Strangling America

Billions and billions of dollars in budget money and virtually unlimited power. The epa is doing everything that it can do to wreck our economy by imposing insane standards on companies and coming soon, even individuals. The epa is denying oil companies the ability to drill for oil in our Country, making it impossible for us to become free of foreign oil. The epa is telling us what kind of light bulbs we can use.

Our economy is bordering on collapse and the epa still makes unreal demands of companies.

The worst part about the epa, they don't give a damn what we, the public think or say, and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it...

by Rep. Ted Poe - Human Events

Right now, someone is sitting at a large oak table in the EPA’s marble palace in Washington, D.C., sipping a vanilla latte and dreaming up a new rule to impose. Without fail, the EPA continues to come up with ideas that leave you scratching your head in wonderment because of the questionable science used to justify these regulations. Instead of protecting the environment, these rules dreamed up by the EPA in Washington are destroying American industry and killing job creation, which is just what our economy needs right now. This type of federal meddling is exactly what causes companies to lay off workers, move overseas, and in many cases, fail. The purpose of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect the environment—not to regulate American industry into nonexistence.

The EPA’s blatant disregard of the fragile state of our economy is alarming. Businesses in the United States already are operating in an environment of uncertainty, which makes investors hesitant to invest in American businesses. The EPA’s efforts to force companies to comply with its expensive (and many times environmentally unnecessary) regulations will inevitably increase the cost for businesses, and accordingly consumers, and destroy job growth. If the EPA continues on its crusade of destruction and over-regulation, manufacturing and energy companies will take their business to friendlier lands overseas, jobs will be destroyed, and the environment will not be any better off.

In the name of saving us from ourselves, the EPA continues to abuse its power. The mother of all mandates is the proposed cap-and-trade regulations. Houston, Tex., is the energy capital of the world, and my area of southeast Texas is home to more energy companies and facilities than almost any other location in the United States. What I hear most often from the businesses that supply the energy that our country demands is that these questionable regulations will significantly increase costs that make doing business in the U.S. too difficult. This type of over-regulation will crush the economy and put thousands of people out of work. What makes the EPA’s proposed regulations most disturbing is that Texas has been successful on its own in ensuring clean air through the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. Despite Texas’ own progress, the EPA is looking for more to control, arrogantly ignoring the will of the people and the will of Congress.

The American people have rejected the EPA’s cap-and-trade regulations overwhelmingly, and this month, the House of Representatives passed the Energy Tax and Prevention Act that would prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gasses (i.e., carbon dioxide). Of course, this caused the fear-mongerers to scream that we don’t care about the environment. What was left out of their talking points is that this legislation does not prohibit the EPA from regulating those hazardous pollutants that are harmful to public health. We await the Senate's action on this bill.

The Environmental Police Agency’s assault on our economy and state does not stop there. It wants to control what kind of light-bulbs Americans use, how much power the utility companies generate, the “particulate coarse matter”—more commonly known as dust found on farms and ranches, how much water we have in our toilets, and one of the newest ones: What kind of anti-bacterial soap we use to wash our hands. That’s right, the EPA’s overstepping of authority now touches almost every aspect of our lives. So, if you’re a mom who has been using the same soap for years to protect your children from spreading germs, sorry. You need to go to the pharmacy and buy some new “improved” EPA-authorized soap. While you’re there, you should pick up a box of only-Made-in-China compact fluorescent bulbs—because thanks to the EPA—incandescent bulbs will be banned by 2014.

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