Posted on 12/22/2010 1:20:53 PM PST by neverdem
The Obama administration is expected to roll out a major greenhouse gas policy for power plants and refineries as soon as Wednesday, signaling it won’t back off its push to fight climate change in the face of mounting opposition on Capitol Hill.
The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to a schedule for setting greenhouse gas emission limits, known as “performance standards,” for the nation’s two biggest carbon-emitting industries, POLITICO has learned.
Under the schedule agreed to by EPA, states and environmental groups, the agency will issue a draft greenhouse gas performance standard for power plants by July 2011 and a final rule by May 2012. The agreement – which comes after states and environmentalists challenged the George W. Bush administration’s failure to set the standards – requires EPA to issue a draft limit for refineries by Dec. 2011 and a final rule by Nov. 2012.
The White House Office of Management and Budget has signed off on the schedule, according to a litigant in the legal fight.
The standards are part of a series of climate rules from the Obama administration that have faced fierce opposition from industry groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And while the policies won’t go final for more than a year, the political ramifications will come immediately.
They will come as welcome news to environmentalists who want the administration to flex its regulatory muscle following the death of climate legislation this year, but EPA can expect its foes on the right to blast the move as another example of regulatory overreach.
GOP lawmakers slated to claim the gavels of powerful House committees next year have already vowed to launch probes into a host of EPA regulations – including the administration’s suite of climate change rules – arguing that the regulations will further damage the already ailing economy.
Starting Jan. 2, EPA will begin regulating large stationary sources of the heat-trapping emissions, but those requirements only apply to new and upgraded facilities and will be determined on a case-by-case basis, so it’s unclear how deeply they will slash emissions. The forthcoming standards would set industry-specific standards and could require some of the oldest, dirtiest facilities to clamp down on carbon dioxide.
The agreement doesn’t specify what type of requirements EPA will impose on the industries, but environmentalists say the rules have the potential to require substantial emission reductions in existing facilities while offering industry the type of regulatory certainty it’s been calling for.
EPA’s schedule could also likely impact a high-profile climate lawsuit pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case American Electric Power v. Connecticut, power companies are challenging a lower court ruling that allowed states and environmental groups to move ahead with a public nuisance lawsuit seeking to force the utilities to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama administration attorneys asked the court in August to vacate the appeals court's judgment, arguing that in part that EPA was already moving forward with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which undercut the need for nuisance lawsuits. The attorneys said EPA was “evaluating” whether to include greenhouse gases in performance standards.
States and environmental groups involved in the case argued that EPA’s evaluation wasn’t good enough because the agency hasn’t formally taken action to limit emissions from existing sources. However, they said their claims for relief under nuisance lawsuits would be displaced if such rules were finalized.
It’s unclear how EPA’s announced schedule will affect the Supreme Court case, which is expected to be argued before the rules go final.
EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said, "We have nothing to announce at this time. But as we have made clear any regulatory decisions will be guided by sound science and stakeholder input, and encourage deployment of clean technology, while cutting greenhouse gas pollution and providing certainty to key industries in this country."
Bingo! The EPA is doing Zer0's dirty work while he will try to claim plausible deniabilty. Why are the Republicans not screaming bloody murder???
This is part of the War on Coal which Obama and Slow Joe admitted to during the campaign. It is also a war on the economy at a time when we can ill-afford it. Their claim it is supported by “science” is pure bunk. The gov’t paid for the “science” results they wanted.
Bingo! The EPA is doing Zer0's dirty work while he will try to claim plausible deniabilty. Why are the Republicans not screaming bloody murder??? Sorry . . . omitted the "i".
Just to be clear, our entire atmosphere is basically “greenhouse gasses”. Especially water vapor.
These morons seriously believe they can regulate water vapor?
I think they should just regulate how many kids we can have, how long and how many square feet our lawns can be, tell us when we can and can’t travel, and by what means.
Or we could all buy lots of guns and tell them to kiss off. But then, we’ve already done that gun thing.
>>Another rogue agency creating law by policy , without authority from Congress. <<
That is why I’m not all that concerned about what the FCC said yesterday. The minute they try to actually DO something regarding the internet is when the machinery will begin turning that will result in a determination that they have the authority to do it.
Right now they are like a rent-a-cop threatening to write parking tickets on napkins.
Geez : all those posts bad mouthing the EPA.
The EPA is dong what they are told by Obama Chavez.
He barks and they jump.
IOt will be this way for the next two years and Republican politicians will look the other way with their tails between their legs.
>>Hell, I am starting to think we need to scrap the whole damn federal government and START OVER.<<
You’re late to the party.
But to be fair. It is scrapping itself. It is like a balloon that continues to fill with air, gets bigger and bigger and bigger and then, POP.
The last big balloon to pop - the FedGov.
Have these bureaucrats lost their minds? They think that they can continue with their power grabs, which are clearly outside the mandate that the citizens elected them with. They operate without the consent of the governed, and they continue to push the limits of what god-fearing, righteous Americans can tolerate. We are a peace loving people, but when pushed, we lash out. They are pushing so far, with Obamacare and their lame duck policymaking, that they should be removed from office by any and all means at our disposal. How dare they act this way, while we pay their paychecks. It is my belief that they are trying to get some ultra conservatives to lash out, thus giving the government the right to institute marshall law to “protect” the rest of us from these radicals. This administration, and democratic party have moved so far out of the mainstream, one needs to ask them if they were actually raised in this country, and why have they no conscience about legislating against the people’s will. It is time to consider peaceful resistance, along the lines of Ghandi. I doubt they could call marshall law against us if we all gummed up the works in this country. It is long past time for us to have our own copies of rules for radicals. It is long past time for the resistance to rise up, (peacefully and legally) and throw the chains of tyranny this government has used to enslave us. They have become destructive of their constituents rights, and as such, we are entitled to declare them as illegitemate and to begin the creation of a new government. It is time for us to begin to pool our ideas as to how best to take this government down, and to make sure that those that have acted illegally, as well as unethically are punished. It is time for us to rise up and take them out! Please private mail me with ideas, and suggestions, or post them here. Every man has his limits, and mine are fast approaching.
The tech bubble.... BOOM!
The housing bubble.... BOOM!
The overreaching Government bubble.... stretch... creak...
Congress will need to completely re-configure the federal judiciary to solve this else judges will just mandate that they do everything they do.
Obama should be able to get any edict, any executive order through, now that the entire repub congress has caved to him in the lame duck session. He is the “new” messiah now, the come-back kid, buoyed up by tremendous victories in the last 2 week lame duck. Good gravy, did we not have an election? Nothing is worse than disappointment after an election that you thought would correct the behaviors of the elitists/cowards in Wash DC. Some days I think it might just be better to turn it all off and go bury myself in the cooking channel or somewhere else.....what is the point to carrying around all this angst for the last 2 years? The Tea Party is watching all this with incredulity, especially after we have been patient and used the ballot box instead of the bullet box to settle matters. But, it seems, things did not get settled after all.
Throw in the FCC for an easy three places to start dismantling fedzilla.
My hatred for Obama with without words. This man is a communist revolutionary through and through.
Why has the GOP gone missing with the current power grabs by the EPA and the FCC underway? Where is our future speaker of the house and why is he silent on this coup that is taking place under his nose? How dare bureaucrats decide they will tax the living daylights out of us through charging power generation for producing carbon dioxide. How dare the administration seize control of the internet whilst the other two branches of government have specifically told them to keep their hands off of the internet. The TSA, under the guise of public safety unilaterally decides they’re going to suspend the 4th amendment, with not so much as a public statement.
I can’t believe that Obama was unaware of all of these maneuvers by agencies in his administration, but the odd thing is that George Soros’ front man John Podesta, published a docement recently advising Obama to just the things that he is doing. If we wanted George Soros to run our country, we would’ve elected him to do so. We are all so blind to the danger that is enveloping us, and it is happening at an increasingly faster rate, such that this country will be a full-blown dictatorship within months.
Shortly after some right-wing group begins to launch terrorist attacks, we will all lose our freedom as Martial law will be declared. This is just what Eric Holder was talking about the other day, when he was saying his greatest fear was of native born extremists. It is an odd day when normal, god-fearing americans are said to be “extremists” because they despise tyranny, and want to live by the constitution that their ancestors left them.
One if by land, two if by sea, and three if they come by presidential policy signing statements or administrative agency policy announcements. Nevertheless they are coming for our freedom, and they have counted on the fact that we are too predisposed to ignore these things as just politics, when in reality their really is a revolution taking place in our country right under our noses. They have become so adept at lulling us to sleep by their constantly increasing outrages, that we no longer do much more than sigh. They are masters of the news cycles, such that they drop these stories during Christmas week, while virtually nobody is paying attention. It is time to sound the alarms, it is time to begin to have town meetings, it is time to figure out if we can even beat these slick, slimy lawyers who have become masters at taking over governments. The hour is late, please go to your nearest roof top and place three lit lanterns. Scream at the tops of your lungs, because the revolution has begun.
“I want to know who’s benefiting from that profiteering. “
Everybody but you. I’ve been the operator of a public water supply company for 30 years. Our rates are determined by the Public Utilities Commission. They allow us 10% profit. So we get about $10 in profit on about $100 of delivered water. Now, if our costs go up, say from $100 to $200 for that same amount of water, and we still get to make a 10% profit,,,,,,,Well,,, We’re in the money!
Spent 2 hours today at the EPA site trying to figure out the rules about Chlorine Contact Time. Bunch of gobbledygook! Confusing as all get out.
Here is to hoping they don’t become the new corrupt bastards. The senate has sold their soul, if the House don’t hold the line, the Republic will die before I do.
God help us.
Yes. Barky and his beard, the 1st Wookie, are truly repugnant beings.
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