From today’s Washington Post article about the environment being the focus of Obama’s second term:
Other industries that will be next in line for carbon restrictions, such as refiners and steel and cement producers, are concerned the administration’s power plant rules will set a dangerous precedent.
“Whatever they do to coal, that’s the business community’s fight,” said Stephen Brown, vice president for government affairs for Tesoro, an oil refiner.
In all my years of fighting junk science, I have never seen a one industry embrace another’s battle based on the embracer’s realization that the target is only the appetizer.
Oh, I think they know. They’re just playing a complex game of musical chairs where they are assuming that a few chairs will have to be left at the end of the game. Meanwhile, they snack on the appetizers.
The pleasure-food industry should have seen the writing on the wall with tobacco. Perhaps all of the effective energy industry will realize that coal is, in fact, only the appetizer.
Steve,
I’m not sure I agree with your comment. If you look at the history, the natural gas and nuclear industries were, and still are, happy to disadvantage/bad-mouth coal–and who can blame them. Hey, that’s just the way it is with capitalism!
Goks
Lock and load.
“In all my years of fighting junk science, I have never seen a one industry embrace another’s battle based on the embracer’s realization that the target is only the appetizer.”
I’m not nearly as optimistic. The government has been taken over by people with a radical environmental agenda who believe they can circumvent any law they please. They are encouraged by the president and the Senate. Major industries do not want any negative press, so they are going to show us just how green and environmentally with it they are. They will go along to avoid bad press as they are gutted by the greens.
I loved the piece about the good democrats from West Virginia, fighting for the state’s economy. Remember, they are democrats, they will vote the party line. The rest is simply for show. Remember what a gun rights guy Manchin is? The republicans are hardly any better. Let someone say boo on an environmental issue and they immediately collapse.
I’ve been doing environmental management in industry for 30 years. What I’ve watched is an out of control agency putting our more and more restrictive regulations about less and less pollution. Now the USEPA is going to lead the charge and control the climate, prevent climate change by making it static no matter how much the peons in the country are hurt. Industry and leaders will make the appropriate noises and sit by and watch it happen.