Think it’s hot now? Just wait ’til Obama’s newly declared “War on Coal” causes electric rates to spike so high you can’t afford to pay your power bill.
“The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants,” Daniel Schrag, a member of Obama’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology told the New York Times. ”…a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”
And with that, the Obama Administration launched a war that will directly target every American.
The president yesterday laid out America’s first climate change strategy — and it’s bad news for anyone concerned about electric rates.
“With every passing day, the urgency of addressing climate change intensifies,” Obama wrote in a memo to his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator. “[M]y Administration is committed to reducing carbon pollution that causes climate change, preparing our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speeding the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
The Obama Administration also released a 21-page report detailing their plan.
“Going forward, we will promote fuel-switching from coal to gas for electricity production,” the plan states. That will certainly be disconcerting to the 5,000+ Alabamians who provide for their family thanks to their job in the coal industry, but that statement has stark implications for every Alabamian.
The Alabama Policy Institute noted in their “Alabama by the Numbers” series earlier this year that 26% of Alabama’s energy is produced by coal-fired plants. They also pointed out that the cost to generate 1kWh of electricity from fossil fuels is 3.6 cents, while so-called renewable resources cost 4.9 cents, a 53 percent difference.
This research makes it clear that the results of Obama’s climate change policies will be devastating to Alabama jobs, and Alabamians’ pocket books.
A study by the Heritage Foundation found that significantly reducing coal’s share in America’s energy mix, which Obama’s plan calls for, would destroy more than 500,000 jobs, cause a family of four to lose more than $1,400 in annual income and increase electricity prices by 20 percent.
Obama cites the Clean Air Act of 1970 as legal justification for his executive actions in the energy sector, but John Dingell, the principal author of the Clean Air Act said Obama is using a perverse interpretation of the law to advance his ideological agenda.
“This is not what was intended by the Congress and by those of us who wrote the Clean Air Act,” Dingell said. “We are beginning to look at a wonderfully complex world, which has the potential for shutting down or slowing down virtually all industry and all economic activity and growth.”
And the worst part of all of this? None of it will make a bit of difference to the Earth’s climate.
“If America stopped all carbon emissions, it would decrease the global temperature by only 0.08 degrees Celsius by 2050,” the Heritage Foundation concludes. “The war on coal provides no hope for the economy and little change in the earth’s temperature. Not quite the hope and change Americans desired.”
Related:
1. Clear contrast continues at PSC hearings
2. Recap from the first Alabama Power PSC hearing
3. Beeker challenging Dunn in PSC Republican primary
4. Alabama climatologist crushes enviros
5. Democrats Embrace Republican Public Service Commissioner Terry Dunn
What else is going on?
1. Sewell: Injustices suffered on Bloody Sunday in 1965 have ‘not been fully vindicated’
2. Sarah Palin coming back to Alabama
3. To D.C. & back again, will Wells Griffith run for Congress?
4. SCOTUS rules in favor of Shelby County in Voting Rights Act case
5. Mike Rogers to Obama: Get serious about border security
