Obama's War On Coal -
CLEAN COAL
The American people rejected cap-and-trade (President Obama’s plan to make electricity prices “necessarily skyrocket” and “bankrupt coal”) in one of the biggest landslide elections in history in 2010. The day after that election, Obama said: “Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way. It was a means, not an end.”
Since then, Obama has worked overtime to act as if the cap-and-trade bill passed and to twist decades-old laws in order to bankrupt coal and drive up the price of electricity.
The lynchpin of the Obama’s War on Coal is the so-called Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology (UMACT) rule, also known as “Mercury and Air Toxics Standards” or “MATS.” The rule requires expensive retrofits at coal-fired power plants, raising electricity prices nearly 20 percent with no environmental benefit.
The cost, according to EPA’s own estimate, is $10 billion per year. A more realistic analysis from the national Economic Research Associates found compliance costs of $21 billion per year, with 183,000 lost jobs per year.
Worse, if the rule stands it will combine with Obama's new greenhouse gas rules to shut down all coal-fired power plants in America, a genuine economic catastrophe that will make prices “necessarily skyrocket” and undermine the reliability of our electric grid.
The Senate will soon vote on a resolution from Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) that would overturn the UMACT rule.
Since then, Obama has worked overtime to act as if the cap-and-trade bill passed and to twist decades-old laws in order to bankrupt coal and drive up the price of electricity.
The lynchpin of the Obama’s War on Coal is the so-called Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology (UMACT) rule, also known as “Mercury and Air Toxics Standards” or “MATS.” The rule requires expensive retrofits at coal-fired power plants, raising electricity prices nearly 20 percent with no environmental benefit.
The cost, according to EPA’s own estimate, is $10 billion per year. A more realistic analysis from the national Economic Research Associates found compliance costs of $21 billion per year, with 183,000 lost jobs per year.
Worse, if the rule stands it will combine with Obama's new greenhouse gas rules to shut down all coal-fired power plants in America, a genuine economic catastrophe that will make prices “necessarily skyrocket” and undermine the reliability of our electric grid.
The Senate will soon vote on a resolution from Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) that would overturn the UMACT rule.
OBAMA SAID HE WAS GOING TO BANKRUPT THE COAL INDUSTRY! Sometimes he keeps his promises - they just are not usually for the benefit of the American people!
This is a part of our history I can relate to. My grandfather O'Neill's family worked the coal mine's in Indiana from 1840 until they closed the mines down. He lost uncle's, brother's and friends in those mines. It was though, to them, a way of life. I was fortunate in that my grandfather left behind an autobiography which included many stories relating to working in the mines. The story below is going to bring to a conclusion another part of our American history.
By Dr. Tom Borelli April 21, 2012 www.nationalsecurity.org
The coal industry is on the verge of extinction. Coal’s precipitous fall from providing almost half of our electricity is not a result of free-market forces but from government regulation driven by President Obama with aggressive support from crony capitalists and environmental activists.
Tragically, the destruction of the coal industry is a case study in Obama’s heavy handed command and control energy policy. Under this scheme, the chosen industries such as wind and solar companies are showered with government grants and loans while coal – a competing and therefore an undesirable source of electricity – gets punished with excessive regulations.
The numbers don’t lie; the share of electricity generated from coal in the U.S. has plummeted to a projected 38 percent in 2012 from 49 percent in 2007. According to the Energy Information Administration, the drop in coal generated power is expected to fall 10 percent from 2011 to 2012.
READ MORE - ->
By Dr. Tom Borelli April 21, 2012 www.nationalsecurity.org
The coal industry is on the verge of extinction. Coal’s precipitous fall from providing almost half of our electricity is not a result of free-market forces but from government regulation driven by President Obama with aggressive support from crony capitalists and environmental activists.
Tragically, the destruction of the coal industry is a case study in Obama’s heavy handed command and control energy policy. Under this scheme, the chosen industries such as wind and solar companies are showered with government grants and loans while coal – a competing and therefore an undesirable source of electricity – gets punished with excessive regulations.
The numbers don’t lie; the share of electricity generated from coal in the U.S. has plummeted to a projected 38 percent in 2012 from 49 percent in 2007. According to the Energy Information Administration, the drop in coal generated power is expected to fall 10 percent from 2011 to 2012.
READ MORE - ->
Apple Sees Conflict of Interest w/Al Gore!
Washington, D.C. - The National Center for Public Policy Research, which submitted a shareholder proposal warning Apple, Inc. about potential conflicts of interest involving board member Al Gore in February, is today calling attention to a new potential conflict of interest directly involving Gore.
It has recently been revealed that Apple's massive new North Carolina data center will be powered by fuel cell technology supplied by Bloom Energy, a company whose investors include the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where Gore is a partner. The 4.8-megawatt power facility is reported to be the biggest fuel cell facility ever built by a non-utility company. Fuel cell technology uses hydrogen or natural gas to generate electricity by an electro-chemical process that does not involve combustion of carbon-based fuels. READ MORE - -> |
24 Billion Barrels A Day?
The last time we profiled Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, it was early 2009 and oil prices had slumped to $40 a barrel. This was bad news for Hammʼs big push into the Bakken oil play of North Dakota and Montana, where tight rocks and tricky drilling necessitate $50 crude to break even. With oil back at $100, Hamm is sitting pretty with the biggest holding in the Bakken and set to invest $1 billion there this year in his quest to prove that it is not just one of the biggest oil fields in the United States, but in the whole world. “Out of all the oil plays in the U.S., thereʼs just one Bakken,” Hamm says. “It towers above everything else.”
READ MORE - - > ND Oil Boom Towns
That’s what it’s been dubbed by many. The recent boom of the Bakken oil fields—made possible by a perfect storm of sensible state regulations, the often maligned fracking process, and the fact that most drilling is taking place on private lands—has produced a whirlwind of economic growth in a formerly sleepy corner of northwest North Dakota. Recently, a team from The Heritage Foundation and the Institute for Energy Research (IER) traveled out West to see it for ourselves. READ MORE - ->
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