Obama pursues global warming...alone!!!

[okie52]

Obama Readies New Steps To Combat Climate Change

June 20th, 2013 5:30 pm
Elissa Gomez


During an address in Berlin this past Wednesday, President Barack Obama reiterated his desire to make fighting climate change a part of the legacy he leaves after his second term.

“The effort to slow climate change requires bold action,” Obama firmly stated. He went on to warn that the “grim alternative” to not implementing new regulations to slow climate change meant “more severe storms, more famine and floods, new waves of refugees, coastlines that vanish, oceans that rise.”

Now his administration seems ready to move forward. The president is reportedly preparing a new set of regulations, under which power plants would only be permitted to emit up to 1,000lb CO2/MWh, considerably lower than the most efficient coal plants today, which emit carbon at approximately 1,8000lb CO2/MWh. The limitations would leave result in coal plants emitting the same amount of carbon as new natural-gas combined-cycle power plants.

According to the New York Times, this is the most significant move ever made to combat electric power plants’ role as the largest single source of global warming pollution in the nation (they are responsible for nearly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions). This would greatly help President Obama achieve his goal of reducing the United States’ carbon emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

The proposed measure would also rule out the use of coal in the electric sector without installing carbon capture technology – something that is not commercially viable yet.

“We have never as a country put forward a regulation on new or existing coal plants before. … And I’m very confident that we’ll land that policy in the right place,” said White House energy advisor Heather Zichal.

Obama also mentioned his plan to strengthen fuel economy standards and expand renewable energy to combat carbon emissions and their negative effects on the environment.

Green groups applaud the new rule and believe it is the first crucial step needed to cut carbon emissions in the power sector; coal users and Republicans, however, fear that such a regulation would destroy the United States coal industry.

The Obama administration is anticipating legal backlash from coal industries and Republicans.

Republicans have delayed making any decisions on the New Source Performance Standard, and, in an effort to slow any other smaller, yet critical decisions, have delayed holding a vote to confirm Gina McCarthy, the president’s nominee to head the EPA.

“This type of blanket, partisan obstruction used to be unheard of. Now it has become an unacceptable pattern,” Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) said of Republicans’ refusal to hold a vote on McCarthy’s nomination.

Republicans argue that Obama’s proposed environmental measures are going too far. Besides imposing limitations on carbon emissions, the administration intends on finding alternate ways for the Department of Energy to make appliances and industrial equipment more efficient, and to reduce the energy wasted in public and private buildings.

In an effort to avoid partisan conflict in Congress, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and his deputy, Rob Nabors, have begun to meet with cabinet secretaries and their deputies to propose new measures that would not require Congressional action.

President Obama is expected to announce more climate policy initiatives, primarily on renewable power and energy efficiency, in the coming weeks.

“This is the global threat of our time,” President Obama said in Berlin. “We have to get to work.”

Photo: Matthew D. Wilson via Wikimedia Commons

This would obviously help NG but the reasoning is stupid. Go it alone and have American business and consumers pay for the additional costs while doing little to reduce global warming...possibly harm the economy while China and India build a new coal plant every week....brilliant!!!

[okie52]

While we are on the subject....


GOP Senators Slam 'Significant Change' to Carbon Costs
Thursday, 20 Jun 2013 03:07 PM
By Dan Weil

Senate Republicans are unhappy with the Obama administration's increase in its estimate of the economic benefit of carbon regulations.

Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are concerned that the increase will be used by President Barack Obama to justify new climate change restrictions, The Hill reports.

In May, without fanfare, the administration boosted its estimate of "social cost" of carbon pollution to $36 per ton of carbon dioxide from $22 previously. The social cost puts a dollar value on the health, property, and other damage caused by carbon emissions.

The Republican senators are upset that the increase wasn't discussed publicly before being put in place.

"This is a significant change to an already highly controversial estimate, and as such requires transparency, open debate, and an adherence to well-understood and previously agreed-upon rules," the GOP senators on the Environment Committee, led by ranking member David Vitter of Louisiana, wrote in a letter to the Energy Department and other executive branch bodies.

The senators said they wanted an explanation about the process used to increase the cost estimate by July 2.

When it comes to the cost forecast, "as you are aware, the [social cost of carbon] estimate is crucial to the administration’s climate change agenda because the higher the number, the more benefits can be attributed to costly environmental regulations and standards," the GOP senators wrote.

"In addition to real and ongoing concerns about the lack of openness and transparency throughout this administration, we are troubled by any characterization of the reworked interagency estimate as relatively minor," they said.

The letter comes as Obama prepares to implement new rules curbing carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants.

Heather Zichal, the White House coordinator for energy and climate change, said that Obama will announce new steps on climate control in the next few weeks.

The administration's plans include measures that don't require congressional action, such as pushing energy efficiency standards for appliances, clean-energy production on public lands, and regulations to curb carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants, Zichal said Thursday.

Obama "is serious about making it a second-term priority," Zichal said at a forum sponsored by the New Republic magazine. "The president is very focused on commonsense measures" to deal with the threat, she said.

The administration has already started the process of curbing emissions from new power plants. "But imposing carbon standards on the existing utility fleet would be vastly more costly and contentious," according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Republicans on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology took issue with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz over climate change at a hearing Tuesday, telling the former MIT physicist that many elements of climate science are open to question.

Several Republicans quizzed Moniz as to how much climate change stems from human activity, as opposed to natural fluctuation. "Is there any way to estimate what percent? Is it 50 percent, 90 percent of human activities?" Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican asked, according to Politico. Moniz said he doesn't know the precise percentage.


© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.



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[OU68]

And we think it's smart to burn corn in our vehicles?

[okie52]

And we think it's smart to burn corn in our vehicles?

A favored fuel source by Obama...we are mandated to use it.

[okie52]

Clean Coal!!!!!

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

That energy source is targeted for extinction, as promised by Dear Leader before His first presidential election.

[sappstuf]

And we think it's smart to burn corn in our vehicles?

Damn Africans trying to steal food from our cars...

[SoonerorLater]

All of you are Global Warming Deniers!

[olevetonahill]

All of you are Global Warming Deniers!

Dont know about the whole dayum Globe but its gettin Hooter than hell here

[sappstuf]

I really don't understand what Obama is doing...

Look at what he has tried to do his second term. Gun control, immigration reform and now climate change.

Now look at this poll from Pew of what issues are most important to people:

http://www.people-press.org/files/2013/01/1-24-13-1.png

Gun control ranked 18 out of 21..

Immigration ranked 17 out of 21 and has dropped 2 points in the past couple of years.

And now climate change ranks dead last at 21 out of 21 and has dropped a couple of points.

Meanwhile, budget deficit sits at +19.... And his climate change policies will probably make the number 1-3 issues all worse.

So much for being a man of the people.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

So where is the outrage on The Socialist's WAR on Coal???

[OU68]

So where is the outrage on The Socialist's WAR on Coal???

Coal, oil, NG - they're all dirty capitalist tools to destroy the environment -- pay tention!

[REDREX]

I am listening to Barack right now-----He is a clueless idiot when it comes to energy

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I am listening to Barack right now-----He is a clueless idiot when it comes to energyHey! Stop the criticism. Things are moving right along in the Transformation.

[okie52]

I am listening to Barack right now-----He is a clueless idiot when it comes to energy

I was listening to that ideological moron, too, speaking to Georgetown I believe. Its a shame someone else from the oil and gas wasn't on that same stage with him.

[sappstuf]

I am listening to Barack right now-----He is a clueless idiot

No need to ramble on... Cut those extra words out. ;)

[Skysooner]

I'm not very happy about this either although I doubt it will make a difference. Not bringing XL online actually helps the US oil sector versus the Canadian oil sector.

The power plant legislation will be tied up in legal action for the next few years and likely will never take effect.

[okie52]

I'm not very happy about this either although I doubt it will make a difference. Not bringing XL online actually helps the US oil sector versus the Canadian oil sector.

The power plant legislation will be tied up in legal action for the next few years and likely will never take effect.

As an NG producer you should like that Obama is basically mandating NG to replace coal...because that is what he is doing. But this was happening anyway without Obama's interference.

[sappstuf]

So an Obama administration official said Obama has asked the State department "not to approve the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline unless it can first determine that it will not lead to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions".

Isn't that oil coming out of the ground regardless of where it goes?

Sounds like the president is trying to vote "present"..

[Bourbon St Sooner]

Keystone won't lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions because the oil sands crude will be exported to Asia if it isn't sent to the Gulf Coast. Of course that's probably not the criteria that Obama wants to use.

[REDREX]

Keystone won't lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions because the oil sands crude will be exported to Asia if it isn't sent to the Gulf Coast. Of course that's probably not the criteria that Obama wants to use.---Correct

[okie52]

So an Obama administration official said Obama has asked the State department "not to approve the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline unless it can first determine that it will not lead to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions".

Isn't that oil coming out of the ground regardless of where it goes?

Sounds like the president is trying to vote "present"..

Please don't inject logic.

[sappstuf]

Please don't inject logic.

Even for Obama it must be hard to spot his logic...

http://hungeree.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pb-130214-obama-preschool-05.photoblog900.jpg

[okie52]

Even for Obama it must be hard to spot his logic...

http://hungeree.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pb-130214-obama-preschool-05.photoblog900.jpg


Heh...yes it has been.

[REDREX]

I like the little girls reaction----"What is this Boob doing"

[okie52]

I like the little girls reaction----"What is this Boob doing"

Heh...I thought she was thinking "you are so annoying".

[Soonerjeepman]

lol...that is hilarious...

"what a dumba$$, even I know ...." fill in the blank

[okie52]

Democrat Manchin: Obama's Energy Plan Is 'Irresponsible'
Tuesday, 25 Jun 2013 10:29 PM
By Todd Beamon

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia slammed President Barack Obama’s climate change agenda on Tuesday, calling it “irresponsible” and saying it would harm coal-producing states like the one he represents on Capitol Hill.

“We’re looking for an all-energy policy that secures our nation, makes us less dependent on foreign oil or foreign energy — and we can do that, but we’ve got to use everything we have in balance with the environment and the economy,” Manchin told Bret Baier on Fox News. “That’s all we’ve ever said.”

In a speech at Georgetown University, Obama proposed limiting carbon pollution from all U.S. power plants and signaled that he would block TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada if it increased greenhouse gas emissions.

The administration’s long process of studying whether to approve the Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada through the Midwest to refineries in Texas, has been attacked by business groups and Republican lawmakers.

Manchin has attacked Obama’s energy-reform proposals over the years, including those that would have capped carbon emissions, an expensive proposition for coal-fired power plants.

He told Baier that eight billion tons of coal is being burned every year all over the world.

“If they believe that if we stop burning coal in America completely — and that’s one billion tons a year, one-eighth of the consumption of the world — that we’re going to clean up the environment,” Manchin said. “They still believe that the world’s still flat.”

He added that Obama’s plans would cut jobs, even as the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that as much as 37 percent of American households would still be dependent on coal as an energy source through 2040.

“Why do you want to shoot yourself in both feet and then try to run the marathon tomorrow?” Manchin asked.

The Obama agenda, would be “devastating, not to just West Virginia — all the coal states — but, basically, to the economy of the United States of America,” he added. “He’s declaring war, truly, on American jobs. We’re just asking for balance, a level playing field.”

The proposals are “asking us to meet standards that are unobtainable because the design, the technology has not yet been perfected — and we’re supposed to hit a moving target?

“We have coal plants today and utility companies that would retrofit if they were allowed to, but they have to go to a standard that’s not even obtainable in today’s market,” Manchin added. “So, you know what they do? They stay right where they are and do nothing.”

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[TheHumanAlphabet]

I'm not very happy about this either although I doubt it will make a difference. Not bringing XL online actually helps the US oil sector versus the Canadian oil sector.

The power plant legislation will be tied up in legal action for the next few years and likely will never take effect.

No Sky, what this does will likely shift Canada to ship Oil Sands bitumen to the west and Asian markets when they decide to build a pipeline from Alberta to BC coast. Until then, the oil will be shipped via truck and train to the US gulf coast. The major aspect is that the US will not see the oil refined and marketed here, driving up fuel prices eventually.

[FaninAma]

When you suck at the job you were hired to do you try and baffle your employers with bull****. Obama has zero clue about how to lead. He is overmatched and in over his head. The entire world thinks he is a joke. Putin thinks he is a girly man.

[sappstuf]

When you suck at the job you were hired to do you try and baffle your employers with bull****. Obama has zero clue about how to lead. He is overmatched and in over his head. The entire world thinks he is a joke. Putin thinks he is a girly man.

I can't imagine why, he just oozes masculinity...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wVTdCEGKNyQ/UTQlLu_52xI/AAAAAAAADLM/0mK-DNLUoDM/s640/Obama-riding-a-bike.jpg

[Tulsa_Fireman]

But but but...

He can shoot the three!

[sappstuf]

But but but...

He can shoot the three!

Another media creation..

This is PAINFUL!

4IjDqm-JHrA

[OULenexaman]

I'm thinking there is something even more wrong with him lately...they should drug test him..

[REDREX]

I bet its LOW T----Or no T the guy has no balls

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I'm thinking there is something even more wrong with him lately...they should drug test him..nothing wrong. He's right on course.