Dismantling Obama’s regulatory attempt to kill fossil fuel :AKA - Removing the Lies! in the WSJ, today
Pruitt’s Clean Power Break
Dismantling Obama’s regulatory attempt to kill fossil fuels.
The Trump Administration is giving the economy a boost with its deregulatory agenda, and the latest example comes Tuesday when Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt will propose to repeal the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan. Ending this power grab will uphold the letter of the law and restore cooperative federalism with the states.
The Obama EPA imposed the rule in 2015 to regulate carbon emissions nationwide and force the retirement of coal-fired electric power plants. Former EPA chief Gina McCarthy took creative license by reinterpreting Section 111 of the Clean Air Act, which directs the agency to implement the “best system of emission reduction” for pollutants.
EPA had previously applied this provision narrowly to single sources of emissions (e.g., individual power plants), but Ms. McCarthy broke with decades of precedent to dictate a systemic shift in power generation. The Clean Power Plan initially requires new efficiency at coal-fired plants, but over time it impels states to substitute coal with natural gas and ultimately solar and wind.
This usurped the regulatory role of states and contradicted the Clean Air Act text, which says that “air pollution control at its source is the primary responsibility of States and local governments.” The Clean Power Plan would have forced states to scramble to alter their electric-power mix, shutting down coal plants long before the end of their useful life regardless of whether substitutes were on hand and affordable. Higher electricity costs and brownouts were likely.
The Supreme Court stayed the rule in February 2016 after 27 states and 37 electric co-ops sued. In March Mr. Pruitt launched a formal review of the rule, and a draft of the EPA’s new analysis that we’ve seen estimates that rescinding the carbon rule would save $33 billion in compliance costs by 2030.
It also finds that the Obama EPA rigged the cost-benefit calculations. For example, the McCarthy EPA claimed tangential benefits from reductions of other emissions like particulate matter that could have been achieved with less heavy-handed regulation. U.S. social costs were compared against global climate benefits.
Ms. McCarthy also assumed linear health benefits from emissions reductions notwithstanding diminishing returns. In violation of the Office and Management and Budget’s longstanding practice, energy efficiency was cited as an avoided cost rather than as a benefit. This allowed the Obama Administration to low-ball the rule’s cost estimate. (how to lie effectively)
Mr. Pruitt’s proposed rule-making starts the 60-day window for public comments. EPA notes that it hasn’t decided whether it will follow its repeal of the Clean Power Plan with a new rule that regulates greenhouse gases from existing power plants and is considering “whether it is appropriate to propose such a rule.” The decision in part will depend on how well Mr. Pruitt thinks EPA can defend any new rule under the inevitable legal challenges from the environmental left.
But repealing the regulatory overreach of the Obama Administration is the first crucial step that is already paying dividends in less economic uncertainty and more confidence in the reliability of the future electric grid.
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Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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