EPA cranks up attacks on Small Business & Manufacturers

While we wait for Harry Reid to try and ram through a watered down version of a Cap & Trade bill through the Senate, the EPA is bypassing legislation & quitely imposing their will through regulation of the Clean Air Act.

With the failure to pass the Murkowski Resolution, the EPA, using the Clean Air Act & the Integrated Urban Air Toxic Strategy as their hammer, a stealth form of Cap & Trade is currently being imposed & expanded from attacks on the coal industry to the manufacturing sector and small businesses.

From National Assoc. of Manufacturers --

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Vice President of Energy and Resources Policy Keith McCoy issued the following statement today regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) continued push to impose costly and unattainable regulations on industry:

“EPA’s drive to put costly new burdens on manufacturers continues to create uncertainty and harm manufacturers’ ability to compete in a global economy. Two of the EPA’s more recent regulatory actions include proposing lowering ozone limits and putting stricter emission standards on industrial boilers. According to two new studies, the EPA’s current path and proposals will add costly new burdens to manufacturers and destroy millions of jobs.

Today the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI released a study showing the EPA’s proposed ozone standards would cost 7.3 million jobs by 2020 and add $1 trillion in new regulatory costs per year between 2020 and 2030. And, while the EPA has publicly acknowledged that its own research shows there is no basis for proposing changing the ozone standards, the Agency continues to move ahead.

In addition, the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners (CIBO) today released a study that shows the EPA’s proposed rules to restrict emission limits on industrial and commercial boilers and process heaters could put 300,000 jobs at risk. The CIBO study also concludes that every $1 billion spent on compliance would jeopardize 16,000 jobs.

Our nation’s unemployment rate is 9.6 percent. We need more jobs, but the EPA is moving forward with regulations that will crush economic growth and manufacturers’ ability to hire. The NAM and the 18 million people who make up the manufacturing economy will continue to urge the EPA not to move forward with these job-killing proposals.”

President Obama Misleads Public on Major Energy & Environmental Issues

Well now here's a real shocker... The Administration has been misleading the public to push their agenda!

From National Center for Policy Analysis --

It is no surprise that a federal appeals court refused to reinstate the Obama Administration's deepwater drilling moratorium, since the scientist cited in support of the moratorium actually rejected the policy, according to NCPA Senior Fellow, H. Sterling Burnett.

"The Obama Administration claimed that the moratorium followed the findings of a scientific advisory panel," Burnett said. "However, it was revealed that a majority of the panel members had recommended against the moratorium, arguing that the potential harms from a moratorium outweighed the risks of continued drilling."

"President Obama has strayed far from his promises made both as a Presidential candidate and as president, especially in the area of energy and environmental policy," Burnett continued. "The president claimed that his actions would be transparent and follow the science, yet on issue after issue, he has ignored the science and flouted the law."

For President Obama, the law presents no limit to his authority, Burnett noted. Three recent actions by the administration highlight this tendency to place Presidential authority above the law. First, the Obama Administration had the department of energy discontinue the plans to build the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Second, the administration unilaterally placed a moratorium on new offshore oil exploration and production. And third, the EPA withdrew its approval of Texas' clean air flexible permitting system.

"In each of the three cases, the Obama Administration claimed to be following the science and acting to protect the environment, yet nothing could be further from the truth," Burnett said. "Fortunately, a backlash has begun with the courts, administrative panels, as well as state governments challenging the Obama Administrations legally and scientifically questionable actions."

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seems to understand the profound harm an offshore drilling moratorium would impose to the economy when they rejected the moratorium, Burnett said. In addition, a regulatory panel ruled that the administration violated the law when it withdrew the Yucca Mountain permit without legislative approval.

"Two wrongs don't make a right, and since there is no evidence that offshore operators routinely make the same errors in judgment, the rig workers, the workers in ancillary fields and the public as a whole should not be faced with collective punishment in order to satisfy the anti-energy appetites of environmentalists and their allies in the administration."

Lacking votes on Energy Bill Democrats take a step back

Our sources tell us the Harry Reid is behind closed doors writing his own version of an energy bill and will force to have it passed before they go on August recess. There is a possibility he will be coming out with it this Monday.

Stay tuned -- if he does we will be all over it!

From the Washington Post --

Conceding that they can't find enough votes for the legislation, Senate Democrats on Thursday abandoned efforts to put together a comprehensive energy bill that would seek to curb greenhouse gas emissions, delivering a potentially fatal blow to a proposal the party has long touted and President Obama campaigned on.

Instead, Democrats will push for a more limited measure that would seek to increase liability costs that oil companies would pay following spills such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico. It also would create additional incentives for the development of natural gas vehicles and would provide rebates for products that reduce home energy use. Senate Democrats said they expected to find GOP support for the bill and pass it in the next two weeks.

Democrats have not ruled out pushing for a more extensive measure when Congress returns from its August recess or in the session after the November midterm elections, although it's not clear that any of the Democrats or Republicans who now oppose a more expansive measure would change their minds. Republicans have long argued that the bill, by seeking to limit emissions, would lead to higher energy costs,
a view that some conservative Democrats have also taken.

The decision to abandon the proposal was another concession to the difficult political environment that party leaders face, as many rank-and-file congressional Democrats are wary of casting any votes that could be used in Republican attacks. More...

EPA will use Clean Air Act to Attack Small Business

Applauding the defeat of the Murkowski Resolution, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson released a statement consistent with the White House's "just lie" policy....

The Murkowski resolution also undermines EPA's common sense strategy for cutting greenhouse gases. Our carefully constructed approach exempts small businesses, homes, farms, and other small sources from regulation. We know that the local coffee shop or the backyard grill is no place to look for meaningful CO2 reductions. We're tackling our largest polluters and calling on Congress to pass a comprehensive energy and climate law -- one that would extend the protection of small businesses. (Read complete statement here.)

Targeting the largest polluters? Really?

With the failure to pass the Murkowski Resolution, through the EPA & an over reaching use of the Clean Air Act, Cap & Trade has been effectively enacted through regulation over legislation. Besides killing the coal industry & causing utility prices to skyrocket, the EPA will be targeting small business' Jackson claims to be exempting from these draconian measures.

A little know provision of the Clean Air Act -- the Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy -- small businesses will also become a target of the Green Energy Goon's at the EPA & the administration's quest for control....

From NYT -- (emphasis added)

The Environmental Protection Agency is 10 years behind schedule in setting guidelines for a host of toxic air pollutants, according to a report from the agency’s inspector general.

The report, which was released last week, found that the agency had failed to develop emissions standards, due in 2000, for some sources of hazardous air pollutants. These included smaller sites often located in urban areas, like dry cleaners and gas stations, but also some chemical manufacturers.

The inspector general also found that the agency had not met targets outlined in a 1999 planning document, the Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy, including tracking urban dwellers’ risk of developing health problems from exposure to pollutants.

For example, the agency’s last assessment of the risk of toxic air pollutants is based on emissions data from 2002. That analysis found that 1 in 28,000 people, or 36 in 1 million, could develop cancer from lifetime exposure to air toxics from outdoor sources. That number is an average, however, and people living in densely populated cities may face a higher risk.

Jeffrey Holmstead, who was assistant administrator for air and radiation at the E.P.A. from 2001 to 2005, said that even though Congress increased the agency’s budget when it passed significant amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990, the E.P.A. still did not have enough money to fulfill all its requirements.

Some evidence suggests that there is now more attention being paid to this category of air pollutants within the E.P.A. The agency noted in its response to the report that for the first time in a decade, funds are shifting to the air toxics program this year to meet regulatory deadlines.

Senator Byrd gives WV Coal Miners the "Bird"

In West Virginia getting a peice of coal in your stocking for Christmas is a good thing.... Too bad Senator Santa Byrd is dropping something else in their stockings!

From Politico --

An extraordinary recent statement by Sen. Robert Byrd has stunned his coal-dependent home state and left West Virginia politicians and business leaders scrambling to understand the timing and motivation behind his unexpected discourse on the future of the coal industry.

In an early December op-ed piece released by his office — also recorded on audio by the frail 92-year-old senator — Byrd argued that resistance to constraints on mountaintop-removal coal mining and a failure to acknowledge that “the truth is that some form of climate legislation will likely become public policy” represent the real threat to the future of coal.

“Change has been a constant throughout the history of our coal industry,” Byrd said in the 1,161-word statement. “West Virginians can choose to anticipate change and adapt to it or resist and be overrun by it. One thing is clear: The time has arrived for the people of the Mountain State to think long and hard about which course they want to choose.”

In almost any other state, Byrd’s remarks might not have caused such a stir. But in West Virginia, where the coal industry — even in its currently diminished form — accounts for 30,000 jobs and more than $3.5 billion in gross annual product and provides roughly half of all American coal exports, according to the state coal association, his statement reverberated across the political landscape. More...

H/T to the Ashland Tea Party & 9.12 Group for finding this "Bird" from Byrd to the coal miners in West Virginia.