Obama Uses EPA to Push None-of-the-Above Energy Strategy

March 28, 2012

Democrats Continue Their War on Energy that is Attacking Coal, Oil and Natural Gas and Driving Energy Prices Higher

With healthcare dominating the headlines this week, Obama’s EPA released new regulations that would shut down 13% of the nation’s coal generating capacity.
The Democrats’ assault on coal is just the latest salvo in their war on energy. Democrats have also been using the EPA to undermine production of oil and natural gas, driving energy prices higher.
The Obama administration’s regulatory onslaught on job creators and energy producers continues to break records, but it’s fully in line with what Democrats have been promising for years.

With healthcare dominating the headlines this week, Obama’s EPA released new regulations that would shut down 13% of the nation’s coal generating capacity:

NEW EPA REGULATIONS WOULD “END THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONVENTIONAL COAL-FIRED FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES”: “The Environmental Protection Agency issued the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants Tuesday, a move which could end the construction of conventional coal-fired facilities in the United States.” (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

“THIS STANDARD EFFECTIVELY BANS NEW COAL PLANTS”: “Industry officials and environmentalists said in interviews that the rule, which comes on the heels of tough new requirements that the Obama administration imposed on mercury emissions and cross-state pollution from utilities within the past year, dooms any proposal to build a coal-fired plant that does not have costly carbon controls.

” ‘This standard effectively bans new coal plants,’ said Joseph Stanko, who heads government relations at the law firm Hunton and Williams and represents several utility companies. ‘So I don’t see how that is an ‘all of the above’ energy policy.'” (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

13% OF COAL POWERED ENERGY BEING SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF NEW RULES: “The proposal does not cover existing plants, although utility companies have announced that they plan to shut down more than 300 boilers, representing more than 42 gigawatts of electricity generation — nearly 13 percent of the nation’s coal-fired electricity — rather than upgrade them with pollution-control technology.” (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

AND EPA MAY ISSUE ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS FOR EXISTING COAL PLANTS: “The Environmental Protection Agency’s top air official stressed Wednesday that the administration has ‘no plans’ to issue regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.

“But, when pressed, Gina McCarthy, EPA’s assistant administrator for air and radiation, would not rule out eventually issuing the regulations.” (Andrew Restuccia, “EPA Official Won’t Rule Our Issuing Climate Rules for Existing Power Plants,” The Hill, 3/28/2012)

JUDGE RECENTLY SLAMMED EPA FOR “MAGICAL THINKING” IN TRYING TO AXE COAL PERMIT: “A federal judge slammed an Obama administration gambit to revoke mountaintop mining permits Friday, saying the EPA invented authority where there was none.

” ‘EPA resorts to magical thinking’ to justify nullifying permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Arch Coal Inc.’s Mingo Logan mine in West Virginia, wrote U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C.” (Erica Martinson, “Judge Hits EPA For Axing Coal Permit,” Politico, 3/23/2012)

The Democrats’ assault on coal is just the latest salvo in their war on energy. Democrats have also been using the EPA to undermine production of oil and natural gas, driving energy prices higher:

REPORT: “EPA REGS COULD HAMPER OIL, NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION”: (Ben Wolfgang, “EPA Regs Could Hamper Oil, Natural Gas Production, Report Says,” The Washington Times, 3/15/2012)

OIL PRODUCTION COULD DROP 37%, NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION COULD DROP 11%: “Domestic oil and natural gas production could plummet if proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations, designed to limit emissions from well sites, go into effect later this year, industry leaders said Thursday.

“The natural gas extraction technique known as ‘fracking’ would be hardest hit, and fuel extracted via the popular process would drop by about 52 percent, according to a new study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute. Total gas production would decrease by about 11 percent, while domestic oil production could fall by as much as 37 percent, the report says.” (Ben Wolfgang, “EPA Regs Could Hamper Oil, Natural Gas Production, Report Says,” The Washington Times,3/15/2012)

“UNTOLD STORY” BEHIND RISING GAS PRICES IS REFINERIES BEING DRIVEN OUT OF BUSINESS “IN NO SMALL PART BY COSTLY EPA RULES”: “The untold story behind soaring pump prices is that major U.S. refineries are going out of business and creating at least regional shortages thanks in no small part to costly EPA rules.” (Editorial, “EPA’s Heavy Hand Seen In Gas Crisis,” Investor’s Business Daily, 3/22/2012)

OVER LAST SIX MONTHS, THREE REFINERIES SUPPLYING HALF EAST COAST GASOLINE HAVE CLOSED: “Over just the past six months, three refineries supplying about half the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the East Coast have closed, including two owned by Sunoco Inc. They say they simply cannot make money anymore.” (Editorial, “EPA’s Heavy Hand Seen In Gas Crisis,” Investor’s Business Daily, 3/22/2012)

IHS STUDY: OBAMA ADMIN SLOWWALKING PERMITS AFTER MORATORIUM OFFICIALLY ENDED: “A study by the business-consultant firm IHS found that the federal government issued 51 new drilling permits in the year following the lifting of the drilling moratorium. That was down from 157 annual permits approved before the regulations took effect.” (Bill McMorris, “Obama’s Energy Slowdown,” The Washington Free Beacon, 3/13/2012)

The Obama administration’s regulatory onslaught on job creators and energy producers continues to break records, but it’s fully in line with what Democrats have been promising for years:

“ECONOMICALLY SIGNIFICANT” RULES UNDER OBAMA FAR SURPASS BUSH:“But some experts argue that those numbers aren’t as important as the amount of ‘economically significant’ regulations, meaning those that are expected to have an effect of at least $100 million — positive or negative — on the economy. By that measure, Bush fares better, with the number of rules during his first three years totalling 126 during compared to 177 for Obama.” (Josh Hicks, “Who Has the Better Regulatory Record—Obama or Bush?”, The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

BLOOMBERG REPORT: “THE AVERAGE ANNUAL COST” TO JOB CREATORS HIGHER UNDER OBAMA THAN UNDER PREDECESSORS: “Beyond those figures, an October 2011 Bloomberg report said that ‘the average annual cost to businesses under Obama is higher than under his predecessors,’ based on government data.”

“Bloomberg noted that the average annual cost of regulations under the current president through the end of September stood at about $7 billion to $11 billion, compared with an average of $6.9 billion in today’s dollars from 1981 through 2008.” (Josh Hicks, “Who Has the Better Regulatory Record—Obama or Bush?”, The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

OBAMA WANTED ENERGY PRICES TO “NECESSARILY SKYROCKET” UNDER HIS CAP-AND-TRADE PLAN: ” ‘Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,’ Obama told the Chronicle. ‘Coal-powered plans, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plans were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.” (Catherine Richert, “Pence Claims that Obama said Energy Costs Will Skyrocket with a Cap-and-Trade Plan,” PolitiFact.com, 6/11/2009)

ENERGY SECRETARY STEPHEN CHU THIS WEEK SAID LOWERING GAS PRICES WAS NOT A GOAL FOR HIS DEPARTMENT: “COMMITTEE QUESTION: “But, is the overall goal to get our price lower?” SEC. STEVEN CHU: “No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil…” (Remarks from Stephen Chu, U.S. House Of Representatives, Appropriations Committee, Hearing, 2/28/2012)

FLASHBACK TO CHU IN SEPTEMBER 2008: “SOMEHOW WE HAVE TO FIGURE HOW TO BOOST THE PRICE OF GASOLINE TO THE LEVELS IN EUROPE”: “‘Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,’ Mr. Chu, who directs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September.”(Neil King, Jr. and Stephen Power, “Times Tough for Energy Overhaul,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/12/2008)