The Detroit News editorializes: “The Environmental Protection Agency’s crusade against coal-fired power plants is on a fast track to raise electricity bills in Michigan by as much as 20 percent and restrict the state’s economic growth… In Michigan, DTE estimates installing scrubbers on its coal plants will cost $2 billion, which will be passed on to consumers in higher monthly bills… But the real impact is on jobs and economic growth. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers forecasts 50,000 of its members will lose their jobs within three years, and 200,000 additional jobs down the supply line. In addition, coal-dependent states such as Michigan would risk losing business to states — and countries — that can now produce electricity cheaper. President Barack Obama made a big deal out of promising to put the kibosh on regulations that threaten jobs and growth. And yet he allows Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, to continue to impose rules that put growth at risk… [Emphasis added]”
Well you Michiganders all luvz ya some Democrats. Now live with it, clowns. Your whole state begins to look like a scene out of ‘Idiocracy’ and for the same reasons they got that way in the movie. When the lights go out, don’t call, don’t write, don’t want to know. Buh-bye. [nothing personal there mkelly, just sayin’]
I have sent emails to my state Michigan rep and demanded he propose a bill repealing all RES laws and regulations passed under Granholm. Our electric bills are climbing.
And how will this play out? Sock Puppet will magnanimously discard about 10% of the regulations, some fewer people than a quarter million will lose their jobs, and he will pompously declare those jobs “saved” by His Almighty Hand.
I can tell you for a fact that utilities all over the country are considering which coal plants they are going to shut down and be replaced with natural gas fueled power stations. (Gas plants employ about 1/4 of people that an equivalent sized coal plant has.) Each new power station will cost roughly $1 billion for 1,000 megawatts. This will be passed on to the customers by having them pay for the capital investment and then for the gas when it becomes more scarce due to overbuilding. The rest of the coal plants will have expensive control systems added, as stated above, and the costs will again be passed on to the customers. These costs will permeate the entire economy. Get ready for a bumpy ride, the war on coal is in full swing.