Getting ready for a wave of coal-plant shutdowns (Electric rates to increase because of the EPA)

washington post ^ | 8/19/2011 | Brad Plumer

[tobyhill]

Over the next 18 months, the Environmental Protection Agency will finalize a flurry of new rules to curb pollution from coal-fired power plants. Mercury, smog, ozone, greenhouse gases, water intake, coal ash—it’s all getting regulated. And, not surprisingly, some lawmakers are grumbling.

Industry groups such the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, and the American Legislative Exchange Council have dubbed the coming rules “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck.” The regulations, they say, will cost utilities up to $129 billion and force them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity. Given that coal provides 45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs. The doomsday scenario has alarmed Republicans in the House, who have been scrambling to block the measures. Environmental groups retort that the rules will bring sizeable public health benefits, and that industry groups have been exaggerating the costs of environmental regulations since they were first created.

[dennisw]

Hopefully Rick Perry gets in and nukes these EPA parasites. Puts them all on the bread lines which is where they want to put the American people

FUBO FUEPA

[Ole Okie]

But a few people will be healthier. If they don't suck in all of the candle soot.

Kerosene lamps are better than candles, but they smoke if the wick isn't trimmed right.

Gas mantle lamps give better light, but they probably emit CO and CO2.

But that's all right. I'm sure the EPA will be regulating those, too. A Nanny State searches high and low.

[Captain7seas]

In 1992 the UN informed us at the “Earth Summit” that the use of fossil fuels was on their “not sustainable” list.

Now that the UN Agenda 21 is U.S. govt. policy is it any wonder that our access to our fossil fuel resources is being curtailed?

There must be a turning back with more awareness of how deeply embedded Agenda 21 policy is and how this is decimating the economy-as designed.

Start your research at agenda21today.com

[Captain7seas]

In 1992 the UN informed us at the “Earth Summit” that the use of fossil fuels was on their “not sustainable” list.

Now that the UN Agenda 21 is U.S. govt. policy is it any wonder that our access to our fossil fuel resources is being curtailed?

There must be a turning back with more awareness of how deeply embedded Agenda 21 policy is and how this is decimating the economy-as designed.

Start your research at agenda21today.com

[spokeshave]

Obama is doing everything that he can to hold back, control, hamper, regulate and steal from businesses and those who start, own and run them. Ergo he is doing everything he can to destroy the economy.

One can speculate as to why

He must have read a few pages of Mr. Winston Churchill's "History of the Second World War"

To defeat the Nazis:

1. destroy oil and petroleum production and distribution

2. Destroy manufacturing industry starting with ball bearing factories

3. Destroy the Rhur valley coal production and industry by flooding the entire valley (the dam busters)

any questions.?

[patton]

I wonder how much tax revenue the instant depreciation of all those coal-fird plants will cost.

[spokeshave]

....sorry Winnie....need more coffee....

Make that a Sir Winston

[tbpiper]

"Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system*, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket," Obama told the Chronicle . "Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."

His plan was to do 'cap & trade' by regulation if the legislation failed. Gd dictatorial bastard.

[GlockThe Vote]

Bfl.

[RC2]

Interesting you should say that. Obama and Hillary studied Hitler and put him on a pedestal.

[crosshairs]

I think he’ll fake some national emergency and do away with the election. That’s how little I trust this goon’s and his Marxist mob’s intent.

Getting to be a Captain Obvious statement.

[oldironsides]

Obama said he would bankrupt the coal companies when he was running for election. While the Democrats shout down coal companies, the environmentalists are making sure there are no nuke plants built. The towns that found out how wind power really works in cold winters may know first hand how it feels to be cold. The property owners living next to wind farms found out how fast property values dump. The noise the wind turbines make is awful. Enjoy this new progressive scheme to cripple America.

[WKUHilltopper]

PA is a huge coal state.

[sr4402]

Perhaps, but it's one thing to fully depreciate a plant over, say, 50 years and plan for its replacement. It's quite another to have one lose its asset value overnight. In that case, the capital simply won't exist to replace it.

Not only that, but we will have rolling blackouts across the nation. When the weather has been this hot, the grid gets pushed to it's limits and all power plants have to put out their best.

Nuclear has been stymied again, and the Obama Administration will only change the rules again soon. So get ready for the blackouts.

It's probably already in Obama's Create a Crisis so we can't let it go to Waste Plan.

[alloysteel]

“Let the bastards freeze in the dark”

That particular catchphrase was originally coined when petroleum prices went so high back during the Carter Administration. It related to the boycott of fuel oil in the Northeast, of Texas petroleum production, and the acceleration of petroleum imports from elsewhere. The entrepreneurs that did the oil exploration were hemmed in further and further by “environmental” regulations that were designed primarily to RESTRICT the extraction of fossil energy.

Now the restrictions extend to the very USE of fossil energy.

Fossil energy is not really “fossil”, as the earth is in the process of creating new hydrocarbons from the building blocks of carbon dioxide and water all the time. Down at the “Moho” discontinuity, the conditions of temperature and pressure are such that water is broken down into free hydrogen, which reacts with the extensive quantity of carbon dioxide that also exists at that level. A naturally occurring Fischer-Tropsch reaction on a massive scale creates the various hydrocarbon fractions, which permeate upward out of the zone.

“Peak oil” is another myth to discourage use of the “fossil energy” resources.

Just another in a series of fabrications and dramatizations to create artificial scarcity.

[asinclair]

Frankly, I can't get too worked up about this. One commenter has already speculated about losing power because of the regulations. That will pale in comparison if the worst-case scenario occurs with a coronal mass ejection, and the resulting geomagnetic storm takes its toll. In 1859, a CME-induced geomagnetic storm took out the telegraph networks. In our modern age, engineers predict that a similar event would cause massive power outages and inflict serious damage on the electrical grid. We are talking losing parts in the grid that would take months to replace. (This assumes some bright PhD candidates don't come up with a scheme to protect transmission components, soon enough to allow the protection to be added to the grid.)

Research into low-cost local power generation can't come quick enough.

[listenhillary]

The author of the article must not have written the title? Gotcha title?

[wideminded]

There are some plans underway to build some coal loading terminals on the Columbia river in Washington or Oregon, to facilitate the export of coal. I wonder if these things are related. Maybe the coal companies are getting into export because they don’t think there will be as much of a demand for coal in the US with plants closing.

[KitJ]

"PA is a huge coal state."

Not for long....