Posted on 10/26/2009 8:38:20 AM PDT by pissant
Almost two years ago, Barack Obama told the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle that anyone who wanted to open a new coal-burning electrical plant would get “bankrupted” by his policies. They may not even get the coal to burn, thanks to the EPA. The Washington Times’ Amanda Carpenter reports that the agency has held up scores of surface mining permits in an action that will get the attention of coal-producing states — and their Senators:
While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said his cap-and-trade tax plans would “bankrupt” anyone building a coal-fired power plant. Although those taxes haven’t materialized, the Environmental Protection Agency has put the brakes on 79 surface mining permits in four states since he was elected.
The EPA says these permits could violate the Clean Water Act and warrant “enhanced” review. But the agency went even further last week, announcing plans to revoke a permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia – a move that has caused anxiety among coal-state Democrats about the future of the industry under the Obama administration. …
Although his favored cap-and-trade bill hasn’t yet been passed, West Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin III, who supported Mr. Obama’s candidacy, called the EPA moves part of a stealth campaign to stifle the industry.
“Right now, my belief is that they’re trying to kill off surface mining through regulation what they cannot get done through legislation,” Mr. Manchin told MetroNews Talkline, a West Virginia call-in radio program, earlier this month. In West Virginia, 23 permits are being held up, with other affected states being Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
Speaking of Senators, West Virginia’s Jay Rockefeller is none too pleased at this action, either:
“I am angry with the EPA’s announcement that they will use veto power to revoke the authorized Spruce Mine permit in Logan,” he said. “It is wrong and unfair for the EPA to change the rules for a permit that is already active.”
To get cap-and-trade past a cloture vote, Obama will need Rockefeller and fellow WV Democrat Robert Byrd. That’s not likely as long as the EPA attempts to hamstring the coal industry through heavy-handed regulatory encroachment. But cloture isn’t the real problem. Coal states have elected a number of Democrats, from Indiana to Ohio to Pennsylvania to West Virginia, none of whom will get re-elected if they kneecap their states’ economies by allowing the Obama administration to bankrupt the coal industry — especially through EPA overreach.
ObamaCare has its difficulties with moderate Democrats, but this creates another layer of difficulty for the White House. ObamaCare would probably pass narrowly in the Senate if it could get past a cloture vote, which is why Harry Reid has threatened reconciliation to avoid the procedural hurdle. Cap-and-trade may wind up not having 50 votes in the Senate, thanks to the EPA and the economy-killing approach the Obama administration is taking on coal.
Getting rid of coal and oil should be priority one under a Barack monarchy.
And this is what is going to (finally!) cost the Dems the Rust Belt voters.
Coal generates our power. Period. Its been vilified...but it is also clean, safe and abundant. Along with the fueling (no pun intended) our local economies.
This is one of the dumbest moves. Ever.
Yea and plenty of Hoosiers don’t realize that we get 90% of our electricity from coal, but we voted for Obama anyway. I am disgusted more every day by the sheer ignorance of voters.
I agree.....break what works and control the people to the point that you ruin the country. This guy is a fool.
HEY! WEST VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA! HOW’S THAT “HOPE AND CHANGE” CRAP WORKING OUT FOR YA??!?!?!?!?!..........
That’s it. Strangle the economy. No nukes, no goal. /s
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2246770/posts
Meanwhile,
Them there windmills and solar panels are producing HOW MUCH of our national electricity?
But...but...how will electric car owners be able to charge their cars without electricity which is primarily generated by coal????
Here’s an interview with the WV Coal Association president from a few months back:
http://www.americasright.com/2009/09/kerry-boxer-to-introduce-senate-cap-and.html
The man actually says that, should cap-and-trade go through, America could be in a position where we’re IMPORTING COAL. Unbelievable.
My only consolation is that some of us aren’t that brain dead.
Hillary Clinton won the PA Primary by 10 points (Hillary was pro-coal).
No one is this politically stupid. This IS part of the plan to sink the US economy. Period.
Now they can dig their own graves.
Now wait a minute, yes the UMWA endorsed Obama but WV was still won by what's-his-name/Palin.
True. The voters (well 55% or so of them anyway) were smart enough to see that 0’s policies were not for them even as their governor and every other Demo official towed the party line.
‘HEY! WEST VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA! HOW’S THAT “HOPE AND CHANGE” CRAP WORKING OUT FOR YA??!?!?!?!?!..........’
Sorry, but Zero carried only a small handful of counties in WV.
If you’re wondering who will stop Cap & Tax and Obamacare, its not some kind of GOP coalition. It will be conservative WV democrats. Did you see who killed the Obamacare cloture vote in the senate last week, taking a bunch of senators with him?
We have been importing coal for quite some time.
U.S. Coal Imports
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/quarterly/html/t19p01p1.html
To all of you straight-party Dimmocrat voters, from Johnstown, PA to Bluefield, WV to Bowling Green, KY...
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Hope ya like subsistence farming welfare, because your days of being gainfully employed are rapidly drawing to an end.
(and don’t say that Pittsburgh Republicans did not try and warn you....all 37 of us!!)
Not to mention the already desolate conditions of the coal regions in the appalachians. Unemployment is staggering as it is, this will kill the states.
Are you aware of how many Americans who don’t know what animal their hamburger is made from? And you expect them to know that coal makes electricity?
I'll take "All of It"...for $1000, Alex
-Wolf Blitzer
For all you coal country people who voted for Obama: poetic justice.
37?!?
Ok, who moved outta town and didn’t tell me...
And the real kick in the a$$ is the UMW (the United Mine Workers) WANTS to unionize...what, grocery stores and Wal-Marts...so they are LETTING Barry kill off coal.
Again...this is going to get ugly in this part of the country, really, really fast when people realize what the PLAN really is.
No coal, no electricity in the Rust Belt.
Oh, but we will have our windmills and our solar cells to generate billion of kW-hours of energy!! Sure, it's dark at night so we hope the wind blows.
“Are you aware of how many Americans who don’t know what animal their hamburger is made from? And you expect them to know that coal makes electricity?”
Ha! Good point!
Ham?
Best news I've heard all day! ;-)
Maybe they can plug their electric car into their windmill...
Coal accounts for 30% of US energy. The administration has revoked drilling leases where it can, so it isn't going to be replaced with oil or natural gas, at least not with our oil and natural gas, except where the Fed does not have the authority to stop drilling (privately held mineral rights and land).
I wonder how much the UMW is going to like having members cold, unemployed, and shivering in the dark...
Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Utah, etc. will be in the same boat, and North Dakota has the only 'clean coal' synfuels plant in the nation.
Does Soetoro, relatives or cronies have a piece of that action?
For years the dem/libs have dreamed of solar and wind power. They full know that during the OPEC oil embargo public support for solar and wind power grew only to fade away when oil came back.
Now that the dems are max political power, they are trying to make sure oil is high priced and coal is not going to be used, to insure “this time” solar and wind win, sort of like affirmative action.
Once 2010 hit the dems like a freight train and nobama has to start agreeing with the new conservative majority, we will see much of this anti-coal, anti-oil fade away.
I just put in a bid for a modification to the existing Florida plant last week.
I don't know about the coal sources and owners. We are a net exporter of coal, but the East coast does a bit of importing, plus Alabama.
“Maybe they can plug their electric car into their windmill...’
There even more that these nitwits don’t know. Here in southern Indiana, the sun can be counted on for about a bit over 40% of the year. That puts solar energy out. The wind is not dependable year round, so wind energy is out. Plus wind energy needs a 90% back up. And burning natural gas requires quite a bit of ground water, whcih is becoming a more precious resource. We have a lot of wood to burn though, until the environuts stop that due to global warming and pollution.
Also see:
Wabash River
http://www.clean-energy.us/success/wabash.htm
The Wabash River clean coal project was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to receive federal support for demonstration of a state-of-the-art coal gasification process. Began demonstration service in 1995; commercial service in 2001.
Maybe for them, but it is mass buggery for the rest of us.
Eastman believes to have a process to make the clean coal even cleaner. They developed it at the Tennessee gasification plant. They have been producing syngas from coal for chemical production since 1983.
They have reached 99.9% sulfur removal and nearly all of the mercury.
I think we will see more of these, even if we have to wait until the next administration.
Are you aware of how many Americans who don't know the difference between the the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
This issue has nothing to do with burning coal or mining coal.
It has to do with disposing of the overlay(waste) generated by mountain top mining.
There has been an established standard since the head of the hollow dumping began regarding the distance between the water in the hollow and the waste dumped in the hollow.
Bush changed that standard in his last days and now Obama is changing it back to the way it was.
Kinda dumb on Obama's part. He should have let it go forward which would have allowed Earth Justice to go out and photograph the results that they could put on TV to show how the republicans were raping the earth.
Oh daddy won't you take me down to Muhlenburg County
Down by the Green River where paradise lay
I sorry my son but you're too late in asking
The Grand Old Party done hauled it away
We need to ban the EPA. I think the States should just tell the EPA to “go to Hell” and mine/drill anyways.
Well, there is that whole "rule of law" thing.
I think it's the agency and the related LAWS that need to go away, not the peoples' support of and obedience to the law.
Evil progresses when good men do nothing....(like read, listen, think)
I think so too. Gas is easier to transport than coal. Byproducts can be shipped to where they can be utilized (CO2 from Great Plains in being injected into wells in Canada for reservoir pressure maintenance/enhanced oil recovery, for instance), or the plants to use the byproducts set up near the synfuels plant, and only finished products transported.
It is a concept which can work in the coal industry as well as petroleum.
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