Obama's EPA Preparing to Raise Cost of Electricity and Cost Jobs

"Higher energy prices, higher prices for consumer goods, and another hit to the GDP. I just can't believe how smart I am! You're welcome America."

The disastrous presidency continues. But when the GDP takes another "unexpected" hit, when median household incomes drop further, and when jobs become scarcer, cold winters, greed, and Bush will be blamed. It's the Obama way and basically his only strategy. 

From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

Next week, it’s expected that President Obama will personally announce EPA’s latest effort to transform how America generates electricity. Remember in 2008, when Candidate Barack Obama said, electricity prices would “skyrocket?” This is what he meant, and it will affect every element of economic activity. 

What is EPA about to do? 

Next week, EPA will release carbon emission regulations for already-existing power plants. It’s a follow-up to last-year’s proposed regulations on new power plants. 

How damaging could these regulations be on our economy? 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21^st Century Energy released a report, “Assessing the Impact of Proposed New Carbon Regulations in the United States,” prepared with the assistance of the global energy and economics firm IHS. The analysis found that by 2030 potential new carbon regulations could:

• Cost as many as 442,000 jobs in 2022 and put 224,000 Americans out of work, on average, annually
• Cost $51 billion in GDP loss annually
• Lower disposable household income by 586 billion
• Increase electricity costs by more than $289 billion.

The report is based on an existing plan developed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Obama administration's previously-announced goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 42% of 2005 levels by 2030. “We considered it as close as we could get to what the administration would be unveiling next week,” Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the Energy Institute said at a press conference.  

[...]  

How will this affect consumers? 

Since the United States isn’t a homogenous mass, these potential rules will affect different areas of the country differently depending on what fuel sources they rely on and are able to tap for electricity generation. The report finds that the most damaging effects on jobs and the economy will be felt in much of the south and the Great Lakes region.

Map: Average Annual GDP and Job Losses from Potential EPA Carbon Regulations

As for electricity prices, if you live in the South power region—much of the Southeast from Tennessee to Florida--expect to see the highest increases: $6.6 billion on average annually and $111.4 cumulatively from 2014-2030.

Map: Average Annual Increase of Electricity Costs from Potential EPA Carbon Regulations

 

Considering Obama's sterling record of squeezing the middle class with policies that have caused sharp drop is household incomes, this kind of regulatory assault against Americans is par for the course.

When Obama said he was going to fundamentally change America and his wife chimed in that "Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual," people generally didn't think it was going to be an assault on the South and the middle class. Guess again.

IG Finds Massive Amounts of Fraud at the EPA

They faithfully do the bidding of the Light-bringer. They shall be left alone.

And here I thought that the EPA was just for bullying.. er, I mean punishing... Obama's political enemies.

From Americans for Tax Reform:

A report released by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Inspector General has found that EPA employees have improperly used federal charge cards to purchase everything from gym memberships to gift cards. The report indicated that over 90 percent of the sampled transactions were for prohibited, improper, or erroneous purchases, all paid for by American taxpayers. Ironically, Senate Democrats Monday night carried on an all-night filibuster in the hopes of generating even more power and funding for the EPA. 

In order to compile the report, the Office of the Inspector General obtained a spreadsheet of 67,000 EPA transactions from Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, and randomly selected 69 transactions. They additionally selected 11 transactions that seemed inappropriate because of the name of the merchant involved. For instance, some transactions were with merchants listed as dance halls, child care organizations, music venues and theatres. Of the 80 transactions sampled, 75 were for prohibited, improper, or erroneous purchases. The 80 transactions sampled totaled $152,602 and $79,254 (52%) of which were for prohibited, improper, or erroneous purchases. 

The report outlined nine specific internal control oversight issues, ranging from the approval of prohibited transactions by EPA officials to the outright failure to maintain transaction records. Of the primary internal control oversight issues, four were particularly outrageous, and the report found that of the transactions sampled: 

1. 35% of cardholders did not verify the receipt of purchases;
2. 30% of cardholders did not obtain required approval prior for purchases;
3. 25% of cardholders did not obtain funding prior to purchases; and
4. 18% of approving officials never reviewed purchase logs.
      

Some specific instances of EPA employee misconduct were so egregious they are worth mentioning. In three instances, cardholders purchased gym memberships totaling $2,867. Two of those purchases were not even for EPA employees but for family members. Cardholders further violated EPA guidelines regarding inappropriate food purchases: 

“Although light refreshments are defined as those that do not include portions of food typical of a meal, in one of our samples, light refreshments included all elements of a meal for an awards ceremony. Four different appetizers, chicken tenderloin, fresh fruit, pasta salad, large cookies, soft drinks and punch were purchased at a cost of $2,900. Meals are not an allowable expense for an awards recognition ceremony.” 

The report also found that the purchase of gift cards by EPA cardholders was also a problem in seven transactions. For example, in one transaction 20 American Express gift cards were purchased totaling $1,588. Additionally, the report highlighted an instance where EPA employees blatantly violated records keeping requirements in that:

“Two transactions totaling $26,152 could not be located despite instructions to maintain supporting documentation. The EPA’s policy requires the retention of documentation for 3 years on a fiscal year basis. Cardholders were not attentive to this basic requirement. In two cases, the cardholders left their positions and no arrangements were made to retain the records. In another transaction the cardholder stated that records were not kept because of privacy concerns. This lack of documentation increases the risk that purchases could be fraudulent, improper or abusive.”

Look, these people at the EPA work very, very hard at saving us all from global warming, uppity conservatives and such, so they deserve a few perks every once in a while. Generally fraud like this is a perk while working in DC. Don't like it? Too bad. You're still paying for it.

Emails Show Obama's EPA and Left-Wing Political Groups Coordinated Political Attacks on Energy Companies

"Let me tell you folks, I've got all sorts of government agencies to attack you with. It's like a dream come true!"

Corruption and political thuggery-- it's the Obama way.

From The Washington Free Beacon (via Ace of Spades):

Internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emails show extensive collaboration between top agency officials and leading environmentalist groups, including overt efforts to coordinate messaging and pressure the fossil fuel industry. 

The emails, obtained by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (EELI) through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, could fuel an ongoing controversy over EPA policies that critics say are biased against traditional sources of energy. 

Emails show EPA used official events to help environmentalist groups gather signatures for petitions on agency rulemaking, incorporated advance copies of letters drafted by those groups into official statements, and worked with environmentalists to publicly pressure executives of at least one energy company. 

Nancy Grantham, director of public affairs for EPA Region 1, which covers New England, asked an organizer for the Sierra Club’s New Hampshire chapter to share the group’s agenda so EPA could adjust its messaging accordingly in an email dated March 12, 2012. 

“If you could, it would great [sic] if you can send me an email describing what you would like to do in early April in NH–that way I can coordinate messaging with our air offices here and at HQ,” Grantham wrote. 

Critics of the agency and its nonprofit allies were surprised by the cooperation. 

“The level of coordination in these documents is shocking,” EELI said in a statement. 

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power, said the emails suggest that the EPA is straying from its mission by working hand-in-hand with hardline green groups. 

“It’s unfortunate that EPA has spent more of its resources promoting and coordinating a political agenda with environmentalists instead of doing its job,” Pompeo said in an emailed statement. 

“In Kansas, we expect public officials to serve the public interest, not the interests of radical environmentalist groups.” 

The documents also reveal some of the internal deliberations behind recent controversial EPA decisions, such as the locations of public hearings on an agency rule imposing stringent emissions limits for power plants.  

The agency came under fire from legislators representing coal-producing states for holding those hearings far from regions where most of the nation’s coal is produced. 

“Instead of the EPA holding a coal hearing in the heart of Coal Country, Kentucky, he has chosen locations such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C.,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said at the time. 

McConnell accused EPA of “once again showing its contempt for Kentucky’s coal miners and their families.” 

Emails released by EELI show that EPA decided on the locations for those hearings after consulting with leading environmentalist groups that advocate the complete phase-out of coal power.

Read the whole article at the above link. It's very detailed.

It's all just one more day in the Era of Obama... Leftist thuggery coordinated with Obama's federal agencies. And the more we let the Left get away with, the more they're going to do it.

The EPA is Engaging in Backdoor Gun Control According to Allen West

"I shall make all of you pay for ignoring the Light-bringer's will! You will not ignore my political agendas... or else I will execute them by executive fiat!"

There's very little Obama will not try to get his way. Blatant lies, political intimidation, sluffing off blame and responsibility, using the executive branch's alphabet soup of regulatory commissions to bully and intimidate his political opponents, is all in a day's work for this embarrassment of a president.

Gun control unpopular? Fine, create it by executive fiat. He's just that kinda guy.

From AllenWest.com via Breitbart:

I am one who steers very clear of tinfoil hat conspiracy theories. I often believe progressives plant stories in order to distract and disrupt, enabling them to pursue their true goals and objectives. That’s why I stress the importance of staying focused on the modern liberal socialist policies of the Obama administration, not the sideshow antics.  

However, as a former combat commander, I have been trained to look for trends. And I believe we’ve found a very disturbing one. it seems that back door gun control is in full effect in the United States. Why? Thanks to Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we can no longer smelt lead from ore in the United States. 

The first contact the EPA made with The Doe Run Lead Smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri (population 2,800) was in 2008 but it was in 2010 that the EPA finally forced Doe Run to plan a shut down. This plant has been in operation since 1892 but will finally close its doors this month. It was the last lead smelting plant in the US. 

The closedown is due to new extremely tight air quality restrictions placed on this specific plant. President Obama and his EPA raised the regulations by 10 fold and it would have cost the plant $100 million to comply.  

In response to the Doe Run lead smelter shutdown, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the Doe Run Company “made a business decision” to shut down the smelter instead of installing pollution control technologies needed to reduce sulfur dioxide and lead emissions as required by the Clean Air Act.  

Of course this is why we need serious regulatory reform that precludes executive agency fiat, especially regulation implementation that exceeds a certain adverse financial impact to a private sector business.  

[...]   

What this all means is that after December 2013, any ammunition that will be available to US citizens will have to be imported, which will surely increase the price and possibly come under government control. It seems this is fully in concert with the US Military and Homeland Defense recent purchase of large quantities of ammunition.  

[...]  

So America, back door gun control is moving forward and while we are all distracted with Obamacare and Iran nuclear negotiations, our Second Amendment rights are undergoing an assault by clandestine infiltration. Remember we reported on this website the gun registration actions being undertaken in Washington DC. Barack Obama and his progressive socialist acolytes are quite savvy at political chess. He is seeking to outflank, envelope, and destroy the Second Amendment. Now it’s our move in 2014.

There really is no end to Obama's desire to control the American people. He will not leave you alone, no matter how hard you try to ignore him. His policies, such as ObamaCare, are designed to effect every American citizen against their will. We have to stand firm against him. There's no other way.