Thread: Obama to take sweeping action on climate

Obama to take sweeping action on climate






By Juliet Eilperin, Published: June 22



President Obama will announce his intention to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, increase appliance efficiency standards and promote renewable energy development on public lands in a speech Tuesday outlining his plan to use executive powers to address climate change.


While the president has talked about the need to address global warming, using sweeping rhetoric in his second inaugural address to suggest it ranks as one of his highest priorities, he has been largely silent on how he intends to tackle the problem. In the speech at Georgetown University, according to individuals briefed on the matter who asked not to be identified because the plan was not yet public, Obama will detail a government-wide plan to not only reduce the nation’s carbon output but also prepare the United States for the near-term impacts of global warming.

They said those measures would include programs to enhance the resilience of coastal communities as well as Agriculture Department “climate adaptation hubs” that could help farmers cope with changes in temperature and precipitation.


“Taken together, these actions indicate an entirely new sense of urgency in addressing the threat climate change is posing to our economy and security,” said Paul Bledsoe, a senior fellow on energy and climate at the German Marshall Fund and a former White House climate adviser under President Bill Clinton.


Unlike his other signature second-term initiatives, such as immigration legislation, gun-control measures and entitlement reform, Obama can undertake all of these policies without congressional input. Though Congress could theoretically overturn an Environmental Protection Agency rule to regulate existing utilities under the Clean Air Act, Democrats have the votes they need in the Senate to block such an effort.
In a video announcement the White House posted Saturday afternoon, Obama highlighted the benefits of addressing global warming, saying it “is a serious challenge, but it’s one uniquely suited to America’s strengths.”


“We’ll need scientists to design new fuels and farmers to grow them,” he said. “We’ll need engineers to devise new sources of energy and businesses to make and sell them.”
But the move to impose greenhouse gas limits on existing plants — which account for a third of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and 40 percent of its carbon emissions — will raise consumers’ electricity prices in the short term as utilities are forced to shutter aging coal plants to comply with stricter pollution limits.


According to the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group, there are 1,142 coal-fired utilities in the United States and 3,967 natural-gas-fired plants, all of which would face new carbon limits under Obama’s proposal. Last year they accounted for nearly 68 percent of all electricity production, according to EEI, compared with nuclear and hydropower utilities, which made up 19 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively. All renewables combined amounted to 5.4percent of electricity generation in 2012.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...e0e_story.html



CRAP AND TRAITOR IS STILL CRAP AND TRAITOR..IT IS ALL ABOUT GOUGING THE PUBLIC...

In climate speech, Obama sets carbon limits on Keystone project


By Justin Sink - 06/25/13 02:21 PM ET


President Obama said Tuesday that the controversial Keystone XL pipeline should only be approved if the project would not “significantly exacerbate” greenhouse gas pollution.
“Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our national interest,” Obama said during a speech at Georgetown University on his climate change plans.






“Our national interest will be served only if this project doesn't significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution,” Obama said. “The net effects of the pipeline's impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project can go forward.” The State Department already said in a March draft environmental review that the proposed Canada-to-Texas pipeline wouldn't significantly boost greenhouse gas emissions, but the White House has thus far avoided weighing in on the pipeline.
Republicans, who have hailed the pipeline as a way to create jobs, said Obama's comments should lead to a speedy approval of the project.
“The standard the president set today should lead to speedy approval of the Keystone pipeline," Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said in a statement. "Based on the lengthy review by the State Department, construction of the pipeline would not have a significant environmental impact. It’s time to sign off on Keystone and put Americans to work.”
Keystone has been a difficult political issue for Obama, given the support of labor groups for the project but the opposition of green groups, who denounce its environmental impact. The announced policy keeps the president from killing the pipeline outright, while attempting to pacify green activists in the Democratic base.
While the implications of Obama’s Keystone comments remain murky, one Senate Republican bashed the president’s threshold for approving the pipeline.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters in the Capitol that imposing conditions “essentially is surrendering our opportunity to put more Americans to work.”
“I think we should approve the Keystone XL pipeline and not condition it on anything,” Barrasso told reporters.
He also vowed to put Senate Democrats on record about Obama’s overall energy and climate plan.
“We will attach an opportunity to have every senator on the record to some bill moving through the Senate, either in the form of an amendment, a sense of the Senate [resolution], to see if Democrats are going to stand by the people in their home states who want affordable energy and jobs, or if they will stand by a president who doesn’t seem to care that much about affordable energy and jobs,” said Barrasso, a member of the Senate GOP’s leadership team.
The announcement came amid a sweeping, if piecemeal set of new energy and climate policies announced by Obama Tuesday afternoon on a sweltering day at Georgetown University.
The centerpiece of the president's climate change plan is announcing a timeline for setting new environmental regulations that will limit how much carbon pollution can be emitted from both new and existing power plants. The White House is directing the Environmental Protection Agency to write draft rules on carbon emissions from existing power plants within the next year, with the expectation they will be completed by June 2015.
“Power plants can still dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into our air for free,” Obama said. “It needs to stop.”
The president's plan also includes a new round of fuel economy standards for heavy trucks, an expanded Interior Department commitment to develop renewable energy on federal lands, making billions of dollars of Energy Department loan guarantees available for low-emissions coal projects, enhanced energy efficiency efforts and many other steps.
The president argued passionately for the need to address greenhouse gases, declaring, “Our planet is changing in ways that will have profound impacts on all of humankind.”
"Those who are feeling the effects of climate change don't have time to deny it — they're busy dealing with it," Obama said, noting the "overwhelming judgment of science" had put "to rest" questions about the impact of carbon pollution.
“The planet is warming. Human activity is contributing to it … As a president, as a father and as an American I’m here to say, ‘We need to act,’” Obama said.
Obama's remarks came after Republicans criticized comments by a member of a White House panel of outside science advisers, who told The New York Times on Monday that the president should use the speech to launch a “war on coal.”
“Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed,” Harvard geochemist Daniel P. Schrag told the Times.
Republicans accused Obama of using his regulatory authority to target the nation's coal industry and endangering the American economy. They argued the White House regulatory plan subverted Congress and would cause energy bills to spike and increase unemployment among the middle class.
“Declaring a war on coal is tantamount to declaring a war on jobs,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor.
Obama vigorously sought to preempt such criticism, saying that opponents of environmental regulation had made the same arguments before.
“Every time, they've been wrong,” Obama said.
“The problem with all these tired excuses for inaction is it shows a fundamental lack of faith in American businesses and American ingenuity,” Obama continued, saying Americans did not have to “choose between the health of our children and the health of our economy.”
A number of senior administration officials joined Obama for the remarks, and so did lawmakers who have pushed for new actions to battle climate change.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell both attended, as did Todd Stern, the State Department’s top climate diplomat and Carlos Pascual, who is State’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a prominent Senate climate advocate, attended, too.
Obama’s plan includes several provisions to boost collaboration with other nations with large greenhouse gas emissions, including China and India, which already have existing collaborative agreements with the U.S.
The plan also touts the U.S. commitment to United Nations-led international climate talks and other international efforts.
Ben Geman and Zack Colman contributed to this story.
This story was updated at 3:09 p.m.


Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/307649-in-climate-speech-obama-sets-carbon-limits-on-keystone#ixzz2XGAb4tMP


It's all crap and traitor to me!!!

BTW Buffett bought Nevada Power a week or so ago!!!!!

Obama to Sidestep Congress for Climate Change Agenda

Posted on June 25, 2013


The tyrant Obama strikes again.
Check it out:
President Obama will announce Tuesday he is planning to sidestep Congress to implement a national plan to combat climate change that will include the first-ever federal regulations on carbon dioxide emitted by existing power plants, despite adamant opposition from Republicans and some energy producers.
In a speech at Georgetown University Tuesday, Obama will announce he’s issuing a presidential memorandum to implement the regulations, meaning none of the steps involved in the plan will require congressional approval.
In addition, Obama will say he is directing his administration to allow enough renewables on public lands to power 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the capacity from solar, wind and geothermal projects on federal property.


Continue Reading on www.foxnews.com ...

video at link below



Read more: http://conservativebyte.com/2013/06/...#ixzz2XGNDNHeM



And still our representative do nothing we are like sitting ducks or better yet cows to the slaughter, is anyone out there awake yet .....

WH Climate Adviser: ‘A War on Coal Is Exactly What’s Needed’

Posted on June 25, 2013



Why can’t liberals come with solutions instead of just causing more problems? Find a viable replacement.
Check it out:

Daniel P. Schrag, a White House climate adviser and director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, tells the New York Times “a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.” Later today, President Obama will give a major “climate change” address at Georgetown University.
“Everybody is waiting for action,” Schrag tells the paper. “The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants. Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”
Obama’s speech today is expected to offer “a sweeping plan to address climate change on Tuesday, setting ambitious goals and timetables for a series of executive actions to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and prepare the nation for the ravages of a warming planet,” according to the Times.
Continue Reading on www.weeklystandard.com ...



Read more: http://conservativebyte.com/2013/06/...#ixzz2XGO6Ahsx

Tuesday, 25 June 2013 18:00 Obama’s Climate Change Speech Ignores Science & EU Experience

Written by William F. Jasper

• E-mail

President Obama was playing to his most extreme “green” constituency in his climate and energy speech at Georgetown University today, blasting global warming skeptics as “flat-earth society” ostriches with their heads in the sand. President Obama said he does not have "patience for anyone who denies that this problem is real."

"We don't have time for a meeting of the flat-Earth society," Obama said. "Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it's not going to protect you from the coming storm." Obama claimed that the call for urgent action to stem the threat of global warming is based on the "overwhelming judgment of science, of chemistry, of physics, and millions of measurements."
The president apparently has not gotten the memos; his Oval Office staff must be keeping him in the dark concerning very important recent developments in climate science and even more significant developments in climate and energy policies. As we reported yesterday, some of the leading voices in the global warming alarmist choir have been admitting that the climate catastrophes predicted by the computer models have not materialized and that the alleged “scientific consensus” is a fraud. The influential British journal, The Economist, suggested in an article on June 20, that “the public has been systematically deceived” for years with all this talk of certainty and consensus about dire consequences attributed to man-made, or anthropogenic, global warming (AGW), and the supposed urgent need for drastic, costly, painful public policies to address the “crisis.”
"The planet is warming. Human activity is contributing to it," Obama said in his Georgetown speech.
The president seems to be unaware that even top climate alarmists have admitted that there has been no evidence of global warming for at least the past 15 years. This absence of warming has been the source of much head scratching, debating, and theorizing in the climate activist circles. As we have reported, the UK Met Office and Professor Phil Jones, the former director of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, are among the many alarmists who have been forced to acknowledge the reality of the lack of any warming trend or crisis. The New American’s recent articles (see below) on the false consensus list dozens of top scientists who have defected from the alarmist ranks, and provide links showing literally thousands of scientists contest the warming theories President Obama champions as the basis for his energy policy proposals.
The president’s energy program, outlined in this White House Fact Sheet and detailed in “The President’s Climate Action Plan,” both released today, would place onerous new restrictions on coal fired power plants and other fossil fuels and would direct billions more dollars into funding “renewable energy” sources, such as solar and wind. As we have reported, these are policies that have already proven to be enormously wasteful here in the United States, and in Germany and other European nations (see here and here) have proven to be disastrous.

^{Photo of President Obama at Georgetown: AP Images}

Related articles:
Cooking Climate Consensus Data: “97% of Scientists Affirm AGW" Debunked
German Firms Flee to U.S. to Avoid Staggering “Green” Energy Costs
Global Warming “Consensus”: Cooking the Books

http://thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/15814-obama-s-climate-change-speech-at-georgetown-ignores-science-eu-experience