Obama's climate change proposal

[jimmy olsen]

Too little, too late

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/02/politics/obama-climate-change-plan/

Obama unveils major climate change proposal


By Allie Malloy and Sunlen Serfaty, CNN


Updated 2123 GMT (0423 HKT) August 3, 2015

| Video Source: CNN


Washington (CNN)—The Obama administration unveiled a major climate change plan on Sunday aimed at a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's coal-burning power plants. On Monday, President Barack Obama started selling it to the public at a White House event.

"Today after working with states and cities and power companies, the EPA is setting the first ever nationwide standards to end the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from power plants," Obama said Monday from the White House, adding shortly thereafter "Washington is starting to catch up with the vision of the rest of the country. "

The "Clean Power Plan" is the final version of regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency, which President Barack Obama called "the biggest most important step we've ever taken to combat climate change," in a video released by the White House on social media Saturday night.

"We're the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it," Obama said on Monday.

Under the plan, the administration will require states to meet specific carbon emission reduction standards, based on their individual energy consumption. The plan also includes an incentive program for states to get a head start on meeting standards on early deployment of renewable energy and low-income energy efficiency.

"Power plants are the single biggest source of harmful carbon pollution that contributes to climate change," Obama said in the video. "Until now, there have been no federal limits to the amount of carbon pollution plants dump in the air."

Even before the rule was announced, many states announced plans to fight it, including some vows to take the administration to court over the new rules. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged states not to comply with the plan in a letter to all 50 governors.

Critics also said that the plan will bring unwelcome increases in electricity prices.

"This plan is all pain and no gain," said Luke Popovich, vice president of communications for the National Mining Association. "That's why state leaders across the country are coming to the same conclusion -- that we should not sacrifice our power system to an unworkable plan built on a faulty interpretation of the law."

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In a conference call with the press, Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the plan would cost a total of $8.4 billion with total benefits expected to be $34 billion to $54 billion.

"Some special interest critics will tell you that it can't be done," McCarthy said on Sunday. "They'll say we have to focus on the economy at the expense of the environment. They'll tell you EPA's plan will turn the lights off and send utility bills through the roof but they are wrong."

A multi-million dollar campaign backed by the energy industry has sought to debunk the science of climate change, but polls show most Americans believe the planet is warming.

Coal supplied 37% of U.S. electricity in 2012, compared to 30% from natural gas, 19% from nuclear power plants, 7% from hydropower sources such as dams and 5% from renewable sources such as wind and solar, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

EPA officials have conceded in the past that some of the dirtiest power plants now operating, such as older coal-fired plants, will end up shuttered as the nation shifts its reliance from traditional fossil fuel sources to cleaner alternatives.

The impending battle ahead could be seen as a major legacy issue for Obama as he transitions into the last quarter of his presidency.

"There are few issues more important to the president," a senior administration official said, adding that Obama is likely to make the case that climate change is a moral, economic and national security obligation in the months ahead.

The news of the President's plan was hailed on Sunday by Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley but was deeply criticized by Republican candidates.

"It will make the cost of electricity higher for millions of Americans," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, said Sunday at the Freedom Partners Summit in California.

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"If there's some billionaire somewhere who is a pro-environmental, cap-and-trade person, yeah, they can probably afford for their electric bill to go up a couple of hundred dollars," Rubio said. "But if you're a single mom in Tampa, Florida, and your electric bill goes up by $30 a month, that is catastrophic."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also running for president, said on Sunday climate change "will not be solved by grabbing power from states or slowly hollowing out our economy."

"The real challenge is how do we grow and prosper in order to foster more game-changing innovations and give us the resources we need to solve problems like this one," he said.

Expecting a tough fight, the White House will launch an "all-out climate push" by the President and cabinet officials to fan out to sell the plan. In the coming weeks, Obama will travel to Nevada to speak at the National Clean Energy Summit and later become the first sitting President to go to the Alaskan Arctic.

[Valmy]

Tim's policy is WE ARE ALL DOOMED!!!!11

[Eddie Teach]

My policy is to annex Canada. 

[11B4V]

My policy is to annex Canada. 

This

[alfred russel]

Obama and Margaret Thatcher...they must be the most evil western politicians Tyr has ever known.

[Martinus]

Why does Obama want to change the climate? 

[Siege]

Anyone remember this? It was a YouTube video.

"If I wanted America to fail ...

To follow, not lead; to suffer, not prosper; to despair, not dream — I'd start with energy.

I'd cut off America's supply of cheap, abundant energy. Of course, I couldn't take it by force. So, I'd make Americans feel guilty for using the energy that heats their homes, fuels their cars, runs their businesses, and powers their economy.

I'd make cheap energy expensive, so that expensive energy
would seem cheap.
I would empower unelected bureaucrats to all-but-outlaw America's most abundant sources of energy. And after banning its use in America, I'd make it illegal for American companies to ship it overseas.

If I wanted America to fail ...

I'd use our schools to teach one generation of Americans that our factories and our cars will cause a new Ice Age, and I'd muster a straight face so I could teach the next generation that they're causing Global Warming.

And I'd imply that America's cities and factories could run on wind power and wishes. I'd teach children how to ignore the hypocrisy of condemning logging, mining and farming — while having roofs over their heads, heat in their homes and food on their tables.

I would never teach children that the free market is the only force in human history to uplift the poor, establish the middle class and create lasting prosperity. Instead, I'd demonize prosperity itself, so that they will not miss what they will never have.

If I wanted America to fail ...

I would create countless new regulations and seldom cancel old ones. They would be so complicated that only bureaucrats, lawyers and lobbyists could understand them. That way small businesses with big ideas wouldn't stand a chance — and I would never have to worry about another Thomas Edison, Henry Ford or Steve Jobs.

I would ridicule as "Flat Earthers" those who urge us to lower energy costs by increasing supply. And when the evangelists of commonsense try to remind people about the law of supply and demand, I'd enlist a sympathetic media to drown them out.

If I wanted America to fail ...

I would empower unaccountable bureaucracies seated in a distant capitol to bully Americans out of their dreams and their property rights. I'd send federal agents to raid guitar factories for using the wrong kind of wood; I'd force homeowners to tear down the homes they built on their own land.

I'd make it almost impossible for farmers to farm, miners to mine, loggers to log, and builders to build. And because I don't believe in free markets, I'd invent false ones. I'd devise fictitious products — like carbon credits — and trade them in imaginary markets. I'd convince people that this would create jobs and be good for the economy.

If I wanted America to fail ...

For every concern, I'd invent a crisis; and for every crisis, I'd invent the cause.

Like shutting down entire industries and killing tens of thousands of jobs in the name of saving spotted owls. When everyone learned the stunning irony that
the owls were victims of their larger cousins — and not people — it would already be decades too late.

If I wanted America to fail ...

I'd make it easier to stop commerce than start it — easier to kill jobs than create them — more fashionable to resent success than to seek it. When industries seek to create jobs, I'd file lawsuits to stop them. And then
I'd make taxpayers pay for my lawyers.

If I wanted America to fail ...

I would transform the environmental agenda from a document of conservation to an economic suicide pact. I would concede entire industries to our economic rivals by imposing regulations that cost trillions.

I would celebrate those who preach environmental austerity
in public while indulging a lavish lifestyle in private. I'd convince Americans that Europe has it right, and America has it wrong.

If I wanted America to fail ...

I would prey on the goodness and decency of ordinary Americans. I would only need to convince them ... that all of this is for the greater good.

If I wanted America to fail, I suppose I wouldn't change a thing"

[Razgovory]

What are you talking about?

[Eddie Teach]

All I got out of that is Siege wants America to fail. 

[Tamas]

All he needs is to have China, India, Russia, Japan, Brazil, and the EU on board and he is set.

[crazy canuck]

All he needs is to have China, India, Russia, Japan, Brazil, and the EU on board and he is set.

I had no idea they had so much control over US domestic policy.

[viper37]

All he needs is to have China, India, Russia, Japan, Brazil, and the EU on board and he is set.

Easy.

Start by doing it yourself.  Then propose new tariffs on products from countries wich do not adhere by your environmental standards.
They'll move.

[KRonn]

Seige, I remember that. Forget who said it. Maybe Paul Harvey, a radio commentator some years ago, said it originally, not sure.

[grumbler]

Youtube videos were the "fair and balanced" news purveyors of the noughties.

Turns out that employment in forest product services has increased since the whole spotted owl controversy.  America has failed.