Category Archive: coal

1. New Report: EPA Aims to Tax Granny and the Poor

   November 10, 2014 9:51 pm Comments Off on New Report: EPA Aims to Tax Granny and the Poor

   The fact that the EPA’s proposed rule to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants will harm the U.S. economy has been well documented. Now, a new report has shed further light on just how much the rule stands to impact the lives of the most vulnerable Americans.

   The report from the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) analyzed the effect that that the rule would have on residents living across nine states— Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The SPP warns that the EPA’s rule will lead to power outages, blackouts, and reliability problems for at least 15 million individuals in these states “due to the rapid pace of capacity reductions required by the EPA’s proposed rule.”

   Enforcement of the EPA’s rule would force the closure of more than 45,000 megawatts of coal-powered capacity—more than is produced across all of New England. Leaving elderly residents, literally, out in the cold.

   The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), an advocacy organization representing American seniors, has come out in full force against the proposed rule. The AMAC claims that because many seniors have fixed or low incomes, they are especially susceptible to the problems with the rule.

   As Dan Weber, president of the AMAC noted, seniors “are not equipped to deal with the unexpected loss of power nor with the anticipated spikes in the cost of electricity. They will have to choose between heating their homes or having enough money for food and medicine.”

   Kids, now it’s your turn to buy Grandma and Grandpa a thick ugly sweater this year for Christmas!

   However, seniors aren’t the only group of Americans that will be disproportionately hurt from implementation of the rule. In fact, families with an annual household after-tax income between $10,000 and $30,000, already devote 24% of their income to energy costs. Those individuals living in states like Kentucky or Ohio, where the vast majority of electricity generation comes from coal, will be hit with a double-whammy. Not only are people in those states losing their jobs, they’re also going to bear the brunt of rising costs.

   When the EPA makes the rules, everyday Americans lose.

2. Gina McCarthy Admits that Agency is Waging War on Coal?

   June 17, 2014 3:15 pm Comments Off on Gina McCarthy Admits that Agency is Waging War on Coal?

   On Friday, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy finally appeared to admit what the rest of us have known for years: The EPA is waging a war on coal. In an interview on the show Real Time with Bill Maher, the famously-liberal host asked whether the EPA was waging a war on coal. After affirming the EPA’s mission, McCarthy then responded, “That’s exactly what this is.”

   This war has been well documented. The EPA’s recently proposed (and euphemistically named) Clean Power Plan is just the latest in a string of regulations that experts say will decimate the country’s coal industry. The war hasn’t come as a big surprise, though. President Obama clearly warned at the outset of his first term that his administration would bankrupt anyone who tried to operate a coal plant.

   And yet, until now, the EPA and its mouthpieces have consistently denied waging this war, even in the face of mounting evidence. “There is no war on coal,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz last year. Obama Administration water carriers Think Progress and Daily Kos both editorialized that such a war didn’t exist. Even McCarthy herself told the New York Times last year, “We don’t have a war on coal.”

   If this interview represents an about-face for McCarthy and the EPA, it likely signifies an even more emboldened agency no longer scared to obscure its mission in public. Based on its recent history, this should strike fear into the heart of every American.