As Montanans head to the polls, Tuesday morning’s “Playbook” from Politico says with today’s front pages, the President of the United States will be glad that he’s in a different time zone. Why? Because of the newly announced EPA regulations against coal-fired power plants that have most coal-state Democrats “running from the EPA.” That’s not the case here in Montana; though, as the appointed Sen. John Walsh (D-MT) is apparently embracing the EPA, while US Senate candidate Steve Daines (R-MT) “tees off” over the new rules.
First, here’s the excerpt from Politico’s “Playbook:”
TODAY’S FRONT PAGES will make POTUS glad he’s in a different time zone: NYT, above fold, “Democrats in Coal Country Run from E.P.A.” … WashPost lead story, “EPA’s proposal prompts backlash: COAL-STATE DEMOCRATS BLAST EMISSIONS RULE – Energy policy complicates already tough election year” … USA Today lead story, “FRAUD MASKS VA WAIT TIMES: 3 out of 5 veterans not treated within 2-week window” …
I first mentioned the above headlines about the new EPA regulations on this blog yesterday. Most coal-state senators and representatives (Democrat and Republican alike) are criticizing the new EPA plan. That’s not the case for appointed Sen. John Walsh (D-MT), as Lee Newspapers reports:
Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., teed off Monday on the Obama administration’s new draft rules to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, calling them “just another step in this administration’s war on coal.”
“President Obama’s policies completely disregard the hard-working Montana families who rely on the access to affordable energy and the thousands of good-paying union jobs that are created by our state’s energy industry,” he said in a statement.Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., said he thinks reducing CO2 emissions is a good idea that will help protect the state’s outdoor heritage, farms, ranches and the jobs they provide.
Since the appointed Senator Walsh won’t speak out against the EPA, will labor unions speak out against Sen. Walsh? Fox News First has this:
UNIONS BREAK WITH OBAMA OVER EPA REGS
Washington Free Beacon: “Labor unions criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s new regulations on carbon emissions from power plants on Monday, highlighting growing tensions between the environmentalist and working class arms of the Democratic Party…United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) president Cecil Roberts blasted the proposal, saying it would leave tens of thousands of the union’s members unemployed…According to a UMWA analysis, Roberts said, the rule will cause 75,000 job losses in the coal sector by 2020, rising to 152,000 by 2035…The regulations also drew fire on Monday from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which warned they ‘focus solely on the environmental aspect of public policy at the expense of balancing our nation’s economic and energy needs.’’’
Wall Street Journal editorial: Carbon-Income Inequality; Obama’s new energy rule is a huge tax on the poor and middle class
A Democratic Congress debated and rejected this anticarbon program in 2010, and there isn’t a chance it could get 50 Senate votes now. But no matter, the EPA claims the authority for this sweeping power grab by pointing to an obscure clause of the 1970 Clean Air Act called Section 111(d) that runs merely a few hundred words and historically has been applied only to minor pollutants, not the entire economy.
The irony is that all the damage will do nothing for climate change. Based on the EPA’s own carbon accounting, shutting down every coal-fired power plant tomorrow and replacing them with zero-carbon sources would reduce the Earth’s temperature by about one-twentieth of a degree Fahrenheit in a hundred years.
Of the 32.6 billion metric tons of carbon the global economy threw off in 2011, the U.S. accounted for 5.5 billion. Mr. Obama’s logic seems to be that the U.S. should first set a moral example by imposing costs that reduce our prosperity. This will then inspire China (8.7 billion tons), which produces and consumes nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined, to do the same to its 300 million people who still live on pennies a day. Good luck persuading Xi Jinping.