The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been making and implementing onerous rules for decades – it’s what they do. Fortunately, the agency’s recent, and especially alarming regulatory assault on coal power is finally earning a rebuke from other branches of government – and, predictably, advocates of bigger government are trying to mount a counterattack.
At the forefront of the EPA’s barrage is the Clean Power Plan rule, which could put 150,000 to 200,000 Americans out of work. Coal producing states like Kentucky, West Virginia, and even Illinois, would of course be among the hardest hit, but throttling a key source of energy threatens to drive up costs for everyone.
Even if one were so heartless as to not care about workers in certain states being put out of work, the potential 17 percent increase in energy costs for the entire nation might give pause.
Today’s EPA however not only lacks empathy for workers in the coal industry, it doesn’t even bother to properly measure the economic impact of its regulations.
As NTU Federal Affairs Manager Nan Swift wrote about recently, the Supreme Court recently decided against the EPA’s Utility MACT rule. Like the Clean Power Plan rule, the Utility MACT rule hammered coal power plants with emissions standards that essentially put them out of business.
The Supreme Court said the EPA was unreasonably deeming economic costs “irrelevant.”
This game changing ruling by the Court will force the EPA to actually weigh the devastating impact their schemes will have. It also means the Clean Power Plan rule may be stalled indefinitely since it cannot pass the test Utility MACT failed.
Many in Congress have also taken some action to try and stop the disaster EPA is brewing. One of whom, Senator Mark Kirk, has come under fire of late from pro-economic devastation environmental group the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) as well as Sierra Club.
With epic job loss, rising energy prices, and a Supreme Court smack down, it would seem logical that Congress also might be doing something to parry the EPA’s overreach. But the folks at LCV do not seem to care about American taxpayers, businesses, or common sense. They are going to spend money on ads and campaigns to attack courageous politicians who actually stand up against this madness. Members of Congress like Senator Kirk, who have stepped forward to try to bring reason to an out of control EPA bureaucracy should be praised and encouraged.
So, taxpayers must stand up as well, and make sure that Congress joins the Supreme Court in taking action to stop the EPA’s coal-killing scheme. The EPA must respect reasonable boundaries and common sense for the sake of our economy.