Thread: Obama To Use $8 Billion Of Taxpayer’s Money To Wage War On Coal, Leaving Thousands Un

12 hours ago by Suzanne Hamner

Obama To Use $8 Billion Of Taxpayer’s Money To Wage War On Coal, Leaving Thousands Unemployed

40 Comments

In Obama’s War on Coal is a War on America, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) President Mike Duncan indicated 280 coal-fired generated units could close in the coming years due to strict environmental regulations already in place. Obama’s war on coal has claimed two victims.

According to the Daily Caller:

High costs associated with stricter federal environmental regulations and increased competition for low-priced natural gas have shut down two coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania.

FirstEnergy Corp. will close the coal plants by October 9, according to Reuters, due to weak power prices.

Another factor is the high cost of complying with the Environmental Protection agency’s Mercury Air Toxin Standards or MATS, which would require the company to spend $275 million at the two plants.

Reuters indicated FirstEnergy, in a federal filing, said it would recognize an impairment charge of about $488 million ($321 million after tax) in the second quarter of 2013 for the shutdowns. In a release by FirstEnergy, the plants scheduled to shutdown are Hatfields Ferry in Masontown and Mitchell in Courtney. The shutdown of these two plants will affect about 380 employees.
The report by Reuters continues:

Together, the company said the plants could generate 2,080 megawatts, about 10 percent of its total capacity. One megawatt can power about 1,000 homes.
Since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, about 15,000 MW of coal-fired power plants have closed as low electricity and natural gas prices have made it uneconomical for generating companies to upgrade those facilities to keep up with the government’s stricter environmental rules.
Those generating companies have also announced plans to shut more than 37,000 MW of coal-fired units over the next 10 years or so.

FirstEnergy said it expected to invest about $650 million in mercury-related control technology to enhance or modify existing air quality equipment or install new equipment on its remaining facilities.
After these upgrades, FirstEnergy said it expected to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by 84 percent, sulfur dioxide by 95 percent and mercury by 91 percent below 1990 levels. In addition, the company expects to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

According to Kentucky Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield, “[Obama] is personally responsible for the loss of thousands of jobs. He obviously does not have much interest in states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wyoming, where the coal industry is so vitally important and we are losing jobs dramatically.”
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told Reuters the president “expects fossil fuels, and coal specifically to remain a contributor for some time. Moniz indicated the way the US administration is “looking at it is: what does it take for us to do to make coal part of a low carbon future” adding this would include higher efficiency plants and new ways or utilizing coal. Moniz said he didn’t believe it was a war on coal, but that in fact, it was all about having coal as part of that future.
Reuters reports:

An $8 billion loan guarantee program for projects to develop new technologies that help cut emissions of fossil fuels would include carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) as “one of a number of options,” he said.

“It will also include some advanced technologies for using coal very different from today’s technologies that will enable much less expensive carbon capture in future,” Moniz said.

CCS is a relatively new, expensive and unproven technology that captures carbon dioxide and buries it.

Based on statements by the administration’s advisers, coal supporters allege the new global warming push is part of a larger effort to cripple the industry.
In previous articles, the global warming crisis was reported to be scientifically inconclusive and possibly a myth. Now, the Obama administration will implement an $8 billion loan guarantee program for projects that include carbon capture and storage technology (CCS), which is relatively new, expensive and unproven, for projects that help cut emissions of fossil fuels. Can you say “money pit?” Didn’t Solyndra receive funding for “green energy” development and then go bankrupt?
As a recap, the White House is closed for tours, fireworks were canceled at several military bases, sequestration of government employees were implemented, and Obamacare implementation has faced difficulties all due to lack of funding. However, there is funding to initiate an $8 billion loan guarantee program for advanced technologies for decreasing emissions from fossil fuels. Let us not forget either that our government has difficulty securing our border into Mexico due to budget restraints and the IRS parties hearty on the hard earned money of taxpayers who comprise only 47% of the population.
The sheer irresponsibility of this administration in mismanaging taxpayer money is astounding and disgraceful. What is almost as bad are the sheeple who nod, cheer and almost worship in an idolatrous fashion the man who literally throws money into curbing global warming – an unproven theory. What’s worse is the voice of reason from the public and other scientific sources are drowned out: smothered by the left’s tactics of discrediting, labeling and name calling.
Mob rule has arrived; the mob has demonstrated unruliness. If the left can’t drown the voice of reason, Obama usurps power, ignoring information not conducive to his plan, by assuming a dictatorial, tyrannical stance then issues executive orders to continue to pound America into the ground. He cares not if jobs are lost or if an entire industry is affected as long as his narcissism is satisfied. America can no longer feed this narcissism. Obama is eating us out of house and home.



http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/07/ba...ds-unemployed/

5 hours ago by Leon Puissegur

Senators Caving To Obama’s EPA Nominee Gina McCarthy As Coal War Drums Beat

5 Comments

Right now our nation is almost falling apart and it seems that no one has any backbone to stand up not just against Barack Obama, but all those that he places into office! From what has happened in recent times, with the many scandals and little action being taken on them, it now seems that maybe the people in Congress should just stay home. Perhaps they should not collect a penny, because none of them seem to care or even think of what will happen next week much less 20 years from now because of their inaction. Senator David Vitter (R-LA), a recent power to be dealt with, now seems to be caving to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) nominee Gina McCarthy because she answered questions right! Come on now, once she gets into her office, she will do just as Obama tells her to do! Yes, both sides are now almost a total waste for being in Washington, D.C. unless they have the big names with them; the common people do not really matter.

Let us take an early example of this with Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) when she voted not to make English the national language. Now let us jump forward to today and check out Senator David Vitter and what he is about to do. Senator David Vitter, along with others, are now thinking of allowing Obama to have his EPA head so he can continue to stop coal, oil, and natural gas!

Just today we learn that Senator David Vitter whom once had stated that he would filibuster her nomination, is now thinking of confirmation her.

We have to wonder just what is Senator David Vitter giving up to do this?

We asked his office and we got no comment, leaving us to wonder why the change of heart and why the support of someone who will be used to destroy the coal industry, put people out of work and help to cause energy prices to skyrocket. What did they get in return for their not stopping the nomination because we do know that most of the time something is given up or given away when a vote switches? We just have to wonder anyway just what good is Congress since Obama seems to be able to not just ignore the Constitution, but do as he pleases, much like a Dictator rather than a President.
It seems that our Constitution has been nearly ripped to shreds in today’s world. If an individual can go out to people in California and ask them to sign a petition to eliminate the Bill of Rights from the US Constitution and he gets people to sign just because he said Obama wants them to, our nation is close to failure! Our men and women in Congress have dealt out so many favors that they cannot do one thing for the good people anymore! We tend to think that maybe it is time for a brand new party to step up and take the Democrats, which are now more like a Socialist Party, and the Republican Party and tell them both to get out of office if they do not wish to just abide by the Constitution, but also to use it as a guide to do better!
It is our belief that both sides of both parties are to blame for all the mess our nation is now in. Those now in office seem to take their Oath of Office and walk away ignoring what it really means. Many of them have voted against the will of the people of their states. Senator Mary Landrieu is a glaring example of this when she had taken $300 million for her vote on the Obamacare law! Some will say she took the money to help Louisiana, but that would not be right since she was called down for what she did. Her vote for the “Affordable Care Act,” which now seems to be an out of control train wreck, was a slap in the face to her constituents since over 70 percent of the people of Louisiana did not want her to vote for that bill!
It does seem to be that both sides of the aisle are wrong today and they do not seem to care about the people. The Senate should not allow a single Obama appointee to be placed into office until Obama backs off his coal ban and we know he is going to try to ban oil next along with natural gas, due to a “climate change,” which according to some very reputable scientists, is not happening! In relation to that, the Earth has not gained a degree over “0″ in the last 15 years! They have shown that the Earth has only climbed to a huge .11 degrees Fahrenheit! Just when you thought it was getting so hot, it is not even getting above Freezing!! This is another huge blunder by Obama and yet, no one from Congress will call him down on this! This is a disgrace to our nation when Congress, having a duty to stop Obama, is just sitting back and allowing him to continue to do what he wants! Just when are we as a nation going to wake up?

http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/07/se...ar-drums-beat/

http://www.alipac.us/f9/coal-plants-...ations-283231/