Action Alert: Stop the War on Coal

Earlier this week we posted on how Region 1 EPA Administrator Curt Spalding stated how they feel "Coal Communities should just go away."

The EPA led "War on Coal" being launched by the Obama Administration and supported by Senator Sherrod "Sluggo" Brown (D-OH) will soon cause electricity rates in the N/E Ohio areas to soar due to four power plants in this region being shut down over the new "air cleaner than God ever intended" restrictions on coal plants.

What is happening here in this area is only a small snapshot of what would happen on a larger scale should President Obama, Senator Sluggo and the EPA be successful in their War on Coal.

Below is info on how you can help stop President Obama's out of control EPA and their War on Coal....

From Tea Party Patriots --  

Stop the War on Coal by INSISTING on a YES vote from your Senators on Senate Joint Resolution 37 (S. J. Res. 37), the Inhofe Resolution.

PASSION: This week’s Passion to Action focuses on our efforts to stop another push to increase your utility bills. If you remember, the President warned us that under his Cap and Trade plan, electricity rates would “necessarily skyrocket,” as coal plants would have to be retrofitted and the costs passed on to consumers.

We need to let our Senators know that we disagree. Coal is a plentiful, useful and safe source of electrical power. Many people and many small business “job creators” are dependent on coal to provide consistent low cost energy. At a time when the economy is struggling, this is one of Mr. Obama’s worst ideas. Click here to learn more.

BACKGROUND: Democrats have owned the “global warming will kill us” issue for several decades, but some Republicans , like Senator John McCain, author of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act of 2003, and former congressman Bob Inglis helped to make it a bipartisan issue beginning in 2003. Bob Inglis lost his seat in 2010 and John McCain nearly did as well. In fact, when you look at the voting records of incumbents who were replaced in that election, you might say that the 2010 mid-term elections were a referendum on “Cap and Trade”. It lost, and when it did, President Obama said, ““Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way. It was a means, not an end.” For source, click here.

Instead of Cap and Trade, the Obama Administration has been attempting to reinterpret old laws like the 1970 Clean Air Act to turn them into global warming laws. Their latest regulation is called the Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology (UMACT) rule (aka MACT, aka “Mercury and Air Toxics Standards” and/or “MATS”). Implementing Utility MACT will raise the cost of coal generated electricity an average of 20% nationally. Unfortunately, there are no environmental benefits associated with the program, but there is a benefit for the President; he gets to keep his word to the Environmental Left to make coal so expensive that alternative energy sources might compete with it. Does this look like a political pay-off to supporters and cronies? It might to someone suspicious of government, someone like you and me. So here’s what we are going to do:

TAKE ACTION 

 Call your Senators TODAY and ask them to vote for S.J. Res. 37, the Inhofe Resolution to overturn Utility MACT. The vote is expected next week. Here are some talking points: This one rule will increase electricity prices 10 to 20 percent nationally.

1. Increasing utility costs on small businesses that could be creating jobs in this weak economy is irresponsible.

2. What this country needs is more freedom for energy producers and fewer, but smarter regulations. CLICK HERE for more detailed information.

3. Inhofe’s resolution will overturn one of the EPA’s most expensive regulations, the Utility MACT. CLICK HERE for more detailed information.

4. Contact Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and tell them to support S.J. Res. 37, the Inhofe Resolution.

Senator Sherrod Brown

Email: http://brown.senate.gov/contact/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/sensherrodbrown

Cleveland Office PH: (216) 522-7272
Cleveland Office Fax: (216) 522-2239
D.C. Office PH: (202) 224-2315
D.C. Office Fax: (202)228-6321

Senator Rob Portman

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robportman

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/robportman
Email: http://portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form

D.C. Office Ph#: (202)224-3353
Cleveland Office Ph#: (216)522-7095
Cincinnati Office Ph#: (513)684-3265
Toledo Office Ph#: (419)259-3895
Columbus Office Ph#: (614)469-6774 / 1-800-205-6446 (OHIO)

President Obama's "United States of Indentured Servants"

Consistent with President Obama's campaign promise to "fundamentally transform the United States", a new CBO report shows at our current pace we will become the "United States of Indentured Servants" by 2037....

From the Weekly Standard -- (Emphasis Added)

A new chart produced by the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee shows that, according to Congressional Budget Office data released yesterday, debt per American is "on track to triple in a generation":

CBO Data: U.S. Per Person Debt On Track To Triple In A Generation

Currently, as the chart shows, debt per American is at (or around) $50,000. Just four years ago, in 2008, the year President Obama was first elected, debt per person was at $35,000.

In 2037, if things stay relatively the same, debt per American will be at $147,000.

In that year, according to Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee, "the federal government will spend $2.7 trillion per year in interest payments alone, representing more than a quarter of our entire budget that year and greater than the total federal budget in 2003."

Per American family, on average, debt will stand at $382,000 in 2037, only 25 years from now. That figure constitutes an increase of $287,000 per family.

The CBO's numbers were released yesterday as part of its "long-term outlook." The non-partisan governmental organization warns, "waiting to address the long-term budgetary imbalance and allowing debt to mount in the meantime would be detrimental to future generations."

With President Obama and the Democrats known "War on Children" they do not view the growing debt a a detriment to future generations - they look at it as just another insurance policy of owning or controlling your children and/or grandchildren!

Marine Week in Cleveland June 11-17

Marine Week in Cleveland starts tomorrow and continues through next weekend:

Displays at Public Square, Gateway Plaza, Voinovich Park and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; Quantico Marine Band performances; ceremonies, and more. All the details are here.

Events are FREE and open to the public. Marine Corps. helicopters are already turning up over Cleveland today (Sunday, June 10).

OHIO COAL : More Insanity from the EPA

Targets in the EPA's cross-hairs: the eggs industry, our Way of Life Act, and now the coal industry. 

From Ohio Coal Assoc.:

MEDIA STATEMENT: Ohio Coal President Mike Carey

‘EPA Administrator: Obama Coal Rules will Kill Industry’

Columbus, Ohio (June 5, 2012) – In video footage released by Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe yesterday evening, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Curt Spalding said the Obama administrations air regulations will kill the coal industry.

“This video is powerful. It explicitly shows the level of understanding of senior EPA officials that President Obama is trying to vanquish an entire industry,” said Ohio Coal Association President Mike Carey.

The footage was filmed at Yale University at “Beyond Pesticides’ 30^th National Pesticide Forum” held March 30-31, 2012.

Mr. Spalding, a Region 1 EPA Administrator said:

“Lisa Jackson has put forth a very powerful message to the country. Just two days ago, the decision on greenhouse gas performance standard and saying basically gas plants are the performance standard which means if you want to build a coal plant you got a big problem. That was a huge decision.”

“You can’t imagine how tough that was,” Spalding continued. “Because you got to remember if you go to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all those places, you have coal communities who depend on coal. And to say that we just think those communities should just go away, we can’t do that. But she had to do what the law and policy suggested. And it’s painful. It’s painful every step of the way.”

Watch the video here.

“Coal provides nearly 86 percent of our electricity in Ohio with reserves lasting an estimated 250 years. Destroying our industry, as planned by President Obama, would decimate Ohio because our economy relies on an affordable and abundant supply of electricity to power economic sectors like manufacturing,” said Carey.

The Obama administration’s new air standards would prematurely force the retirement of more than 140 coal-fired electricity generating units from 19 states by 2015. Senator Inhofe is sponsoring a resolution (S.J. Resolution 37) that would disprove EPA’s new standards.

###

Mike Carey is available for media interviews by request. Please contact Mike Carey directly if you would like to schedule an interview: 614-228-6336 / Media Contact: Matthew Henderson / Cell: 614-499-6602

Obama's Economic Recovery = Extraordinary (Failure)

From RSC Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4) --

The jobs numbers that came out on Friday brought grim news. Last month’s increase of 69,000 jobs is far behind the pace needed even to keep up with population growth. Yet President Obama recently claimed at a campaign fundraiser that our economic “recovery” has been “extraordinary.” Unfortunately, the facts show otherwise.

In the chart below, the red line traces the rate of job growth from Feb. 2010, when the total number of jobs in America hit bottom. Compare that record to the brown line, which shows the average rate of job growth from the bottom of the previous 10 recessions. Based on this data, 4.3 million more Americans would have jobs today if only our economy had recovered at an average rate. Our kids deserve better than this.

When it comes to growing our economy, we shouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than extraordinary. Getting there will require us to make the right choice between a weak economy built on government subsidies and a strong one built on hard work and earned success. The president’s ideas aren’t working. Let’s try something that will.

Way to Go Wisconsin!

From Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder and National Coordinator on the outstanding job by the grassroots Tea Party groups in Wisconsin....

From Brietbart --

The Wisconsin recall election was a local microcosm for a national debate between two competing visions for America – a debate that will be settled, one way or the other, on November 6th, 2012.

 On one side of the debate are power-hungry big government overspenders who waste taxpayer dollars on their insider pals and on their half-baked schemes to control our lives.

On the other side of the debate are We the People -- people who want to keep more of their hard-earned money, and want power-hungry politicians kept in check by the checks and balances built by our nation’s founders.

Tea Party Patriots who held up protest signs a few years ago are now willing to take time out of their lives to fight the battles that must be fought – on the ground, door to door – to save the country. We might not have as much money as our opponents, but we make up for it in passion, dedication, and sheer numbers of ground troops.

In the Wisconsin recall election, we put out the call to Patriots across America: anyone with the time and the passion to step up and save Wisconsin and save the country – by knocking on doors, stuffing envelopes or making phone calls – we would help them step up.

From as far away as Seattle and Texas, from age 16 all the way up to age 80, Tea Party Patriots answered the call. Together in Wisconsin, we knocked on 15,000 doors, made 37,000 phone calls, and distributed nearly 150,000 pieces of literature.

And we won. We beat the well-funded special interests and big government overspenders.

 Wisconsin was another Tea Party Patriots victory. Just like Massachusetts in 2010. Just like Indiana last month. And just like the massive 2010 midterm victories now dubbed “the Tea Party midterms.” 

But all of that was just a warm-up for the November 2012 elections.    

While we have been racking up victories for America, we have been strengthening ourselves for the battles ahead. 

As an organization, we have focused intently on training, educating, and preparing our troops for victory. Across America, Tea Party Patriots Local Coordinators are now trained, ready, and building their teams for November. Every time the media counts us out, we count more and more people coming through our doors – patriotic Americans who want to save the country and don’t take kindly to being told that they’re irrelevant or don’t exist.

We are mothers, grandmothers, fathers, and sons. We are soldiers, veterans, seniors, and students. We have 15 million supporters nationwide and more than 3,400 locally organized chapters. We are organized, we are trained, and we are ready to win in November.

And we will win on principle. The Tea Party Patriots’ three core principles are Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets. When we stick to our core principles, we rack up electoral victories for America. Our core principles are America’s core principles. They remain the same from election to election. While others focus on personal attacks, we focus on principles. People listen to our motives and vision. And, judging by our growing numbers – and our growing number of victories – our principles are resonating with the American people.

In the weeks and months to come, the Tea Party Patriots will continue to reach out to our fellow Americans and share our core principles and show why they are important to America’s future success. We will continue to take time away from our home lives to do the work that must be done to secure a better future for all Americans. And we will continue to campaign on our core values and our vision for America, which is the same vision held by the first tea partiers in Boston Harbor and the same vision written into our Declaration of Independence and Constitution by America’s founders.

But our job will not be complete in November 2012, just like our work was not complete after the “Tea Party midterm” victories of 2010. We will not rest on November 7th or any day thereafter. Elected officials are human beings and human beings are frail. We will immediately – and repeatedly – remind the human beings we helped elect why they were elected in the first place. 

Starting on November 7, and continuing through 2013 and for as long as it takes, we will keep up the pressure until the “government of the people, by the people, for the people” does the job that We the People sent them to do: fully repeal Obamacare, balance the federal budget in 5 years or less without raising taxes, and eliminate crony capitalism and corruption to allow competitive free markets to create a real and lasting economic recovery.

The Tea Party Patriots helped save Wisconsin.  Now it’s time to save America.

Visit www.TeaPartyPatriots.org to get involved.

THE AMERICAN “WAY OF LIFE ACT": GREEN AND PAINFUL

Last week, it was the federal government attempting to control the egg industry. Its agenda: to strangle the egg industry with regulation. Today, it’s revelations on video about the EPA’s intention to control your entire “Way of Life.” From CNSnews.com:

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) released a video montage of Obama EPA Regional Administrators longing to impose a green “Way Of Life Act” on Americans through the regulatory regime of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Regional Administrators talk of how they plan to “crucify” domestic energy producers, make their businesses “painful every step of the way,” or otherwise compel a green way-of-life. . . .

“The purpose of this video is to get to know President Obama’s “green generals” – the regional administrators – who are going into battle for the Obama-EPA, working hard to force a green “way of life act” in regions across the United States.” . . .

[The former Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz says on video]: “[U]nfortunately I don’t have a Way of Life Act [that] I can enforce but at the same time EPA isn’t toothless and we do have certain things that we can enforce with the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act.”

Tomorrow (June 6, Weds.), the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds a hearing on the EPA. It’s a large Committee, but here are three recommended calls:

Fred Upton, (R-MI) Chairman: PH: (202) 225-3761 | Fax: (202) 225-4986 / Link to Facebook, Twitter, etc. here

Henry Waxman (D-CA) Ranking member: PH: (202) 225-3976 | Fax: (202) 225-4099 / Link to Facebook, Twitter, etc. here

Bob Latta (R-OH) (the only committee member from Ohio) PH: (202) 225-6405 / Link to Facebook, Twitter, etc. here