Note how Politico only interviewed enviros — no experts or coal guys.
Politico reports:
xperts say the existing-plant rule will represent the single biggest climate action the president can take using his own authority. But it, too, will have to withstand attacks in court.
Beyond power plants, other sectors of the economy could be next.
Eventually, the administration is expected to propose climate regulations for oil refineries. On separate tracks, the administration is pursuing efforts to reduce methane leaks from natural gas development, make appliances and federal agencies more energy-efficient, and curb emissions of hydrofluorocarbons, a short-lived but potent greenhouse gas used in refrigerators and air conditioners.
Combined, Obama’s efforts might let the U.S. meet the target he committed to during international climate talks in his first term: reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade. But the planet needs much deeper cuts, experts warn. Obama has set a long-term goal of achieving an 83 percent cut by 2050, something EPA can’t accomplish on its own.
I left something out. With our greenhouse gases below anyones dreams and our economy booming, we wouldn’t have to pretend that we actually believed any of the AGW alarmism in the 1st place. Probably won’t have a statistical impact and the climate will continue to be beyond our control.
If the Republicans ever retake the Senate and the White House, the 1st thing they need to do is remove the special legal status of the multitude of left wing environmental groups so they have to pay their own way and be subject to penalties, fines, and civil judgements for frivolous lawsuits. Next, revoke every EO regarding energy, the environment, or climate change and freeze any budgeted funds. Next, end the subsidies for all alternative energy projects and revoke regulatory fees that help finance the subsidies. Then, create 50,000 plus jobs overnight by streamlining the licensing procedure in order to start construction of 20 new nuclear generating plants per year for the next 5 years. As each new nuclear plant comes online retire an equivelant capacity of fossil fuel plants (accounting for spinning reserve). We could wipe out the bulk of non-transportation related greenhouse gases by offering incentives to convert home heating to electric as the new abundant supply of reasonably priced electricity becomes available. The list of growth opportunities with nuclear as the workhorse of the national energy grid is endless. Waste disposal is an issue only because we allowed the zero growth fear mongerers to control the debate. The cost of nuclear plants will drop dramaticly once the process is streamlined by limiting nuisance lawsuits by revising the regulations that encourage those lawsuits. Economy of scale will have a huge impact also. Think of the growth possibilities. Engineers will not only be needed in huge numbers, but because of their important role in our lives we might even pretend to like them. Teachers for those engineers and the construction trades and the thousands of collateral jobs created in every sector of the economy will help move us to a green economy. Doing so without imposing rationing, artificial high energy costs, and growth crushing regulations and taxes. Now the big bogey man of nuclear, safety! I’ll listen to safety arguments after someone can list for me the names of all the American nuclear plant employees that have died from radiation exposure since Connecticut Yankee opened in 1959. Short list! The biggest problem with nuclear is perceptional and not based in reality. However, a nuclear energy reliant economy would offer almost unlimited growth and that would put the left wing zero growth trolls into spasms.
Notice how only Politico is reporting on this. I do like the way they grouped appliances and federal agencies together. If only broken federal agencies could be replaced as easily as broken appliances.