Get prepared to pay a whole lot more for your electricity if the EPA wins this one.
From fuelfix.com:
Analysts predicted early retirement for some coal-fired power plants when the Environmental Protection Agency issued new limits on emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants last year.
The first challenge to the regulations, however, has come from developers of a power plant planned for Matagorda County, about 90 miles southwest of Houston.
Developers of the White Stallion Energy Center say the federal rules, formally known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, cannot be achieved with existing pollution controls and, thus, prevent them from securing financing for the $2.5 billion project.
The company has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the rules. Several others have followed its lead and now are part of one consolidated case.
“It is an unrealistic expectation for us to meet a mercury level that we cannot measure,” said Randy Bird, White Stallion’s chief operating officer.
Yep, much like the fines levied on companies that supply motor fuel (which we covered in Another FINE mess), the U.S. Government is once again arbitrarily setting a standard which cannot be met, deliberately, with the ultimate result being a loss of jobs and higher energy costs for everyone. You’ll forgive the coal industry if they feel that they are being targeted a tad unfairly.
From timesnews.net:
KINGSPORT — Speakers at the Eastern Coal Council’s annual conference charged Monday that President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is at war with the coal industry and killing the economy with burdensome regulations.
“It is, in fact, a war on all fossil fuels. … Coal just happens to be the first one in a long list,” U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., told more than 100 conference attendees at the MeadowView Marriott. “Coal is taking the brunt of the hit right now from the current administration and its (EPA) administrator, Lisa Jackson.”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Bill Kovacs said there are now 154,538 pages of EPA regulations. “If the agency wants to get you, they can get you,” Kovacs said.
Since March 2010, 350 energy projects with a $570 billion economic impact and 1.9 million jobs haven’t been able to get EPA permits, according to Kovacs.
Gee, is it any wonder our unemployment levels aren’t going down?
This is getting old. The Obama Administration seems hellbent on attacking as many different aspects of our economy and society simultaneously as they can, which limits how much attention can be paid to any one of them:
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Fast and Furious,
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Obamacare,
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Coal,
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fracking,
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the ‘War on Women’,
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blocking voter ID laws,
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gay marriage,
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the NLRB’s anti-business, pro-union lawsuits,
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our unprecedented national debt,
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illegal immigration in Arizona…
and the list goes on. Really, what exactly are these dunderheads doing that ISN’T harmful?
For a quick (5 minute) update on where we are nationally in this battle over coal, please check out this video which I first viewed over at The Fearless Conservative blog (thanks for the video, Rob!!). Obama’s government minions aren’t slowing down, which means that we can’t, either.
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Two Heads are Better Than One 
From then Senator Barack Hussein Obama, January 17, 2008:
“So, if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”
Don’t believe it? Here’s the tape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF7Qm31LIDM
I wonder if West Virginia will go “Obama” in November?
Actually, I’m counting on West Virginia voting against him. WV may be the most conservative ‘blue’ state in America.
And with King Coal being threatened, that’s a HUGE section of the state that won’t feel warm and fuzzy towards President Populist.
42% of West Virginia democrats voted for an unknown candidate (convicted felon in a Texas prison) in the 2012 WV primary. Another 20,000 democrats did not cast a vote AT ALL for the presidential part of the ballot but did vote for all other offices. Obama lost Logan county that is so democrat their dead carried JFK to victory in 1960.
West Virginia goes Republican this November.
Can I get an Amen??!??!
Amen, brother!
IF the technology supposedly does not exist then please explain how it is already used widely in Europe? And of course these new rules only apply to new construction of plants. And you conveniently ignore the fact that that there are virtually no new plants proposed (and the funding for those proposed has dried up) not because of the new regulations- but because they are building gas powered plants instead.
The explosion in exploitation of natural gas during the past few years has all but doomed dirty coal. and you know what? Good riddance.
You might rue the day when you say good riddance to coal. Actually we all might rue that day. Who cares about jobs………silly me. All the jobs will be coming from solar power and wind power. Well….only wind power if the turbines don’t obstruct the view off of Cape Cod. I think Europe also utilizes nuclear power much more than we do. Those Europeans…why they have everything all figured out. I wish we could just like them!
Hey, JJ –
Great to see you, bro!
Yeah, I’d certainly think twice (or even three times) before I waved coal bye-bye. Last I looked, it was roughly 1/4 the cost of Natural Gas, and we had as much coal here in the states as anywhere in the world.
Gee, you’d think that a proven, inexpensive source of energy that is readily available AND that would provide tens of thousands of jobs would be a good thing, …..wouldn’t you?
……..And if you want to read about WIND POWER, check out QUIXOTES LAST STAND which is listed in our blogroll at the sidebar. As good a primer on windpower as you’ll find.
I told you all we would get a Sierra Club member on this one.
Welcome!
Ok, who won the pool? Can’t remember how many hours I had before there was a response.
Can’t be a Sierra Club member…..DAOT sounds in favor of fracking for natural gas…..
Just a ruse.
They had a “Beyond Coal” campaign.
Now check out their brand new “Beyond Natural Gas” Campaign: http://alleghenysc.org/?p=7014
Nice link, HM. The quote from Sierra Club president Robin Mann would be hilarious were it not so scary:
“Fossil fuels have no part in America’s energy future—coal, oil, and natural gas are literally poisoning us. The emergence of natural gas as a significant part of our energy mix is particularly frightening because it dangerously postpones investment in clean energy at a time when we should be doubling down on wind, solar and energy efficiency.”
Doubling down on wind and solar? Surely she can’t be serious. (And yes, it’s a woman, although I looked at images and still wasn’t sure.)
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