May 17, 2012

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EPA’s “New Source Performance Standards” are out and it isn’t pretty

April 17, 2012 By Carol Greenberg 1 Comment

As Obama’s “War on Coal” continues to escalate we now have the new regulations from EPA we knew were coming last month when EPA Chair Lisa Jackson announced her “carbon pollution standard” for coal-fired plants.

Jackson and her band of bureaucrats have been up to their old tricks lately, primarily focusing their energy on the systematic destruction of the coal industry and the jobs, affordable power, and economic revenue it provides. Here’s the latest:

First, Daniel Simmons of the Institute for Energy Research (IER) exposes the utter lack of any logic in the EPA’s latest cap-and-tax greenhouse gas regulations that essentially outlaw building coal-fired power plants. Warning: 257 pages of bureaucratic double-speak:

If greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide “endanger public health and welfare” shouldn’t the EPA do something about it? Should the agency work to actually reduce the danger? Isn’t that the point of regulation—to reduce some of the alleged harm?

But the EPA isn’t reducing any danger here because according to the agency [page 49], “This proposed rule also will not have a direct impact on U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases under expected economic conditions.”

If global warming is a problem that the EPA needs to address, then why are they working on imposing rules that the agency admits “will not have [a] direct impact of U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases?” It’s tough to see how EPA regulation makes logical sense. Does the EPA not really care about global warming or are they working to end America’s use of coal? Does the EPA only want to increase the price of energy by making it harder to build low-cost electricity generation?

Then, former U.S. Chamber official Reed Rubinstein argues that the Obama administration’s chief first-term priority has been systematically destroying the coal industry:

Nevertheless, from its first day the Administration has waged a war of attrition in Congress, the courts and the federal regulatory arena against coal. The legislative assault collapsed when Congress rejected cap and trade, and the courts have not been kind to the Administration…

But in the regulatory sphere, where bureaucrats reign at the expense of public transparency and judicial or congressional review, the EPA has run unleashed and unchecked. Since 2008, the Administration has proposed or issued thousands of pages of regulations to burden coal-generated electric power.

Finally, the icing on the cake is a report from the New York Times which details how the EPA is fining businesses for failing to use a type of biofuel that is not commercially available:

When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.

But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.

Yes folks, you really can’t make this stuff up.

biofuels

Photo courtesy of New York Times.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots.

Filed Under war on coal Tagged With biofuels, coal, Dan Simmons, EPA, global warming, IER, Institute for Energy Research, Lisa Jackson, Obama, Reed Rubinstein

Obama’s Friday night DocuDump on natural gas

April 14, 2012 By Carol Greenberg 1 Comment

I keep telling all the Conservatives to watch out for the weekends, because this is when the Left does their dirty work when they hope our side won’t notice.

Well, this writer did notice. It’s no secret that Obama is after fossil fuels in the U.S. After all, everything is on the table except coal, oil, uranium, and now natural gas.

Obama did a DocuDump EO yesterday in the dead of the night. On first glance it appears absolutely benign as they all do. Supporting Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Natural Gas Resources. Whenever you see government “double speak” you know you are in trouble. He touts this as an “intra-agency working group.” So let’s see who is in that *group.*

(i) the Department of Defense;

(ii) the Department of the Interior;

(iii) the Department of Agriculture;

(iv) the Department of Commerce;

(v) the Department of Health and Human Services;

(vi) the Department of Transportation;

(vii) the Department of Energy;

(viii) the Department of Homeland Security;

(ix) the Environmental Protection Agency;

(x) the Council on Environmental Quality;

(xi) the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(xii) the Office of Management and Budget;

(xiii) the National Economic Council; and

(xiv) such other agencies or offices as the Chair may invite to participate.

Spearheaded and overseen by:

There is established an Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources (Working Group), to be chaired by the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, or a designated representative. [emphasis mine].

Many natural gas organizations immediately came out and stated in pressers that this was “great.” Marcellus Shale Coalition had this to say excerpted:

“As the inter-agency’s panel begins its work, we remain eager to provide real-time, on-the-ground insight in an effort to ensure that common sense regulations are in place, which is essential to leveraging the countless benefits of America’s natural gas resources.”

And the American Gas Association had this to say, excerpted:

“This working group will foster improved government communication and coordination that will help our members continue to safely deliver this foundation fuel to 177 million Americans every day.”

The Washington Times glowed:

In a move that immediately drew praise from across the energy industry, President Obama on Friday issued an executive order to better coordinate federal oversight of “fracking,” the popular but controversial natural gas extraction method.

So who is this *mysterious person,*  the Director of Domestic Policy Council who will oversee and coordinate the various agencies which will ultimately decide the fate of our natural gas industry? I immediately went to the non-partisan and prestigious Institute for Energy Research knowing they would have the answer:

WASHINGTON D.C. — President Obama released today an executive order claiming to support safe and responsible development of unconventional domestic natural gas resource. The order creates an interagency working group led by the chairman of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Ceclia Munoz, who formerly led the Center for Community Change and the Open Society Institute — two organizations with close ties to billionaire George Soros, ACORN, MoveOn, and other radical groups with a record of opposing the development of America’s organic fossil fuels. [emphasis mine]. [snip] “If the president is serious about robust development of our vast natural gas resources, it is bemusing to learn that he has appointed an immigration advisor and community organizer with deep ties to George Soros [emphasis mine] to lead the effort. Natural gas production on federal lands is dropping under this administration, a fact that the non-partisan Energy Information Administration attributes in part to the regulatory difficulties faced by industry when seeking to access these resources.

And Obama doesn’t deny it. In a presser in January of this year, albeit leaving out the relationships to Soros he says:

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Muñoz served as Senior Vice President for the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization. She supervised NCLR’s policy staff covering a variety of issues of importance to Latinos, including civil rights, employment, poverty, farmworker issues, education, health, housing, and immigration. Her particular area of expertise is immigration policy, which she covered at NCLR for twenty years.

Ms. Muñoz is the former Chair of the Board of Center for Community Change, and served on the U.S. Programs Board of the Open Society Institute and the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Philanthropies and the National Immigration Forum. In June 2000, she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in recognition of her work on immigration and civil rights.

Do we REALLY want a person with this biography leading these governmental agencies on what this writer foresees as a mistaken path which may very well denigrate this country’s natural gas production? Please. Can you spell ACORN?

If any of these NG agencies wish to recant their original glowing pressers or find fault with my logic they can find me on twit.

@LadyImpactOhio

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

Filed Under natural gas exploration Tagged With American Gas Association, Cecilia Munoz, Center for Community Change, Institute for Energy Research, LaRaza, Marcellus Shale Coalition, natural gas, Obama, Open Society Institute, Soros

China hoards rare earths against WTO rules but Obama also culpable

April 13, 2012 By Carol Greenberg 2 Comments

The US, along with Europe and Japan, have filed a complaint with the WTO regarding China’s hoarding of rare earth minerals, which are needed to make everything from an iPad to a jet engine. If this is allowed to stand the cellphone in the picture here could be toast. mobile phone

Here’s what President Obama had to say:

“We’ve got to take control of our energy future and we cannot let that energy industry take root in some other country because they were allowed to break the rules. If China would simply let the market work on its own we would have no objections, but their policies currently are preventing that from happening and they go against the very rules that China agreed to follow.”

What the President leaves out is that the only reason American manufacturers are so reliant on Chinese materials, and thus prisoners to the whims of a notoriously unpredictable regime, is that he refuses to open up the United States’ vast reserves of rare earth minerals to mining which can be done in an environmentally responsible manner while providing U.S. jobs and revenue at the same time. The Washington Times writes:

Fortunately, we don’t have to go far. We don’t have to go anywhere – not with $6.2 trillion worth of key mineral resources here in the United States. Our nation leads the world in the breadth of its commodity mineral reserves – a position that enables us to control our own destiny and boost U.S. manufacturing prospects simply by fixing a badly broken regulatory process.

This is regulatory madness. And you thought the EPA was fighting the fossil fuel energy at every level.

BACKGROUND:

The Chinese government has set strict maximum quotas on its exports of rare earth minerals, violating clear World Trade Organization rules against holding goods hostage. Sen. Bob Casey writes:

Members of the World Trade Organization, including the United States, are prohibited from using quotas on exports. When China joined the World Trade Organization it committed to follow these rules. At that time, China also agreed to avoid export taxes or duties. In flagrant disregard for the international trade rules it has agreed to, China is holding hostage rare earth elements and other essential raw materials needed for manufacturing.”

The Chinese have an effective monopoly on the rare earth industry, controlling the only mine in operation and limiting exports

“How does China maintain its control over rare earth elements? For one thing, it controls production. The only mine currently producing rare earths is based in China. They also ensure that most of the supplies remain in China by deliberately limiting exports through strict quotas and stiff duties. These illegal measures operate to chill exports and drive global prices through the roof.”

The Chinese control 95% of rare earths that are used for vital energy and defense materials

“These minerals are vital raw materials used in the manufacturing of metals and metal products for a range of high-tech goods such as cell phones, aircraft bodies, wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries.China supplies about 95% of the world’s annual output of rare earths.”  —Peter Lloyd, Professor of economics, Melbourne.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has set unusually high bureaucratic hurdles to launch U.S. mineral mining projects – a policy that drives away business and prevents domestic supply of rare earth minerals. From Hal Quinn of the Washington Times:

“It currently takes up to five times longer to get approval to mine for minerals here than it does in other countries, driving investment, production and jobs away from America. From the time a project request is submitted to the time a final ruling is made, a decade can slip by and paperwork as much as 6 feet high filed and reviewed – repeatedly. Not surprisingly, when investors are ready to move on a project, they turn to countries that are ready to do business, rather than tackle the Byzantine regulatory review process here in the United States.”

The President is letting petty politics get in the way of a solid U.S. minerals resource policy.

Secretary Chu quickly approved initial permits for a single $5 billion plant for Cheniere Energy last year, but at least six other permits are in bureaucratic purgatory while the administration addresses inner-party squabbling with Democrats advocating a moratorium on exports. Opponents to free trade are concerned that exports will increase historically low U.S. natural gas prices.”

We can’t let the President get away with locking up the rare earths we have in the United States. He has already tried and has been successful in locking up a major part of our coal, oil, and natural gas. And uranium as well.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

Filed Under rare earths Tagged With China, Obama, rare earth hoarding, WTO

*Bankrupting America* analyzes the “Buffet Rule”

April 12, 2012 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

Bankrupting America logo

Over the last couple of days the President has been touting his “Buffett Rule” with a focus on fairness to tackle our country’s massive deficits. BankruptingAmerica.org has released a tax infographic – a visual breakdown of the tax brackets, a look a the “Buffett Rule,” a breakdown of where your tax money is spent and more.

Will increasing taxes save us from bankruptcy? Take a look at the graphic below. Mouse over to magnify.

1040 Bankrupting America

Are taxes the ticket? See the analysis below of Obama’s proposed “Buffet Rule”:

For years the U.S. has had an unfortunate habit of spending far more than we can afford, sending us trillions into debt. Some have suggested we should tax our way out of it. Before Tax Day 2012, we go beyond the question of whether we should, and ask a more important question: can we?

Are Taxes Enough?

In 2008, the independent Congressional Budget Office was asked to determine what the tax rates would have to be if they used “higher income tax rates alone to finance the increases in spending projected.”1This was the last time the CBO did such an analysis.

Here is what the CBO determined at the time:

In order to keep up with projected spending, taxes would have to increase:

  • Corporate: current top rate 35%; rate increase to 88%
  • Highest income tax rate: current rate 35%; rate increase to 88%
  • Near-the-middle income tax rate: current rate 25%; rate increase to 63%
  • Lowest income tax rate: current rate 10%; rate increase to 25%

What is the “Buffett Rule” Tax?

Recently, President Obama has called for fairness in the tax code. The president says one way to do this is to enact the so-called “Buffett Rule.” Under this proposal, wealthy Americans would pay a minimum tax rate of 30 percent. One reason some wealthy Americans can pay a lower tax rate is because investment income is taxed at a lower tax rate than ordinary income.3

  • According to analysis, however, the proposed tax would do almost nothing in terms of deficit reduction. Congress’ independent tax analysis arm, the Joint Committee on Taxation, determined this proposed tax would raise just $47 billion over the next 10 years. 4 When looking at the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s projected debt over the next decade of $21.665 trillion, $47 billion represents 0.2 percent in deficit reduction.

The facts show that this proposed tax would do almost nothing in terms of deficit reduction.

Finally, here is the link to a cool, “tax briefing booklet” prepared by the Public Notice.

We have two extra days to get our taxes in this year, deadline is April 17.

Filed Under Uncategorized Tagged With Bankrupting America, Buffet Rule, CBO, Congressional Budget Office, IRS, Obama, taxes

Subpoena Issued to Interior Dept’s Inspector General Office for 13 Documents on Report Recommending Drilling Moratorium

April 11, 2012 By Carol Greenberg 1 Comment

Natural Resources header

Subpoena issued day after Obama Interior Dept fails to comply with subpoena seeking same documents; political appointees have withheld from Committee for months.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today issued a subpoena to the Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) Office of the Inspector General (IG) for 13 documents that DOI has intervened and blocked the IG from releasing to the Committee.  The subpoena comes after DOI yesterday failed to provide the same 13 documents in responding to the deadline for the Committee’s April 3, 2012 subpoena for documents related to the drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico.

In issuing today’s subpoena, Chairman Hastings made the following statement:

“The Obama Administration will be held to account for their actions related to the drilling moratorium and falsely stating in an official report that it was supported by independent engineers.  Yesterday, instead of complying with a subpoena and disclosing documents on its actions, the Interior Department sent a three-page letter providing excuses under a façade of cooperation.  These exact same delaying tactics have been used for months and further stonewalling is unacceptable.  The President pledged unprecedented transparency and the Interior Department is duly warned that I intend to hold it to this standard.  Today’s subpoena is directed at the Inspector General with friendly intent.  The Office of the Inspector General was previously willing to cooperate with this investigation until it was ordered by Interior Department political appointees to withhold vital documents, and I hope the Inspector General will respond appropriately to this document request.  It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for Interior Department political appointees to interfere with an Inspector General’s independence as the Obama Administration has done and after many months it’s time that it ends.  Further action will be taken soon to address the Department’s refusal to comply with the subpoena for communications and documents on the drilling moratorium and report.  The American people have a right to know why and how the Obama Administration put tens of thousands of people out of work, sidelined crucial American energy production and caused millions of dollars in lost economic activity.”

The subpoena to the IG seeks the same 13 documents that DOI failed to provide in response to the Committee’s original April 3, 2012 subpoena.  The Interior Department has intervened to block the Acting Inspector General from providing the 13 documents to the Committee.

The items sought should be readily available and capable of being promptly produced.  The deadline for responding to this subpoena is one week.

Background:

The original subpoena to the Interior Department sent last Tuesday, April 3, 2012, sought two very clearly defined sets of documents: 1) communications involving five officials on a specific topic over a two month period; and 2) thirteen documents that DOI intervened and blocked the IG from providing to the Committee.

Of the thirteen documents that DOI has blocked the IG from providing to the Committee, six documents were first attempted to be provided by the IG to the Committee in May 2011.  The Department blocked the IG from providing seven additional documents in August 2011.

For more information, on the Committee’s oversight investigation, visit http://naturalresources.house.gov/oversight/moratorium

Filed Under House Natural Resources Committee, Uncategorized Tagged With Dept. of the Interior, House Natural Resources Committee, Ken Salazar, Obama, Rep. Doc Hastings