Obama Declares War on Coal June 2nd

[Kaitzilla]

Obama is keeping his promise from January 2008

Link to video.


Since cap and trade never really got off the ground outside of a few states, here is the current plan to clobber 40% of our electricity production:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/carbon-crackdown-barack-obama-106783.html

The EPA will launch the most dramatic anti-pollution regulation in a generation early next month, a sweeping crackdown on carbon that offers President Barack Obama his last real shot at a legacy on climate change — while causing significant political peril for red-state Democrats.

The move could produce a dramatic makeover of the power industry, shifting it away from coal-burning plants toward natural gas, solar and wind. While this is the big move environmentalists have been yearning for, it also has major political implications in November for a president already under fire for what the GOP is branding a job-killing “war on coal” and promises to be an election issue in energy-producing states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule is aimed at scaling back carbon emissions from existing power plants, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases. It’s scheduled for a public rollout June 2, after months of efforts by the administration to publicize the mounting scientific evidence that rising seas, melting glaciers and worsening storms pose a danger to human society.

“This rule is the most significant climate action this administration will take,” said Kyle Aarons at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, one of a host of groups awaiting the rule’s release. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has urged the EPA to “go ahead boldly” with the rule, saying the agency must step in where Congress has refused to act.

But for coal country, the rule is yet another indignity for an industry already facing a wave of power plant shutdowns amid hostile market forces and a series of separate EPA air regulations. Coal-state Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin have joined the criticism, echoing industry warnings that the fossil fuel was crucial to keeping the lights on in much of the U.S. during this past brutal winter.

“You have another polar vortex next year, how many people will lose their lives?” Manchin asked at a POLITICO energy policy forum Tuesday...

...Despite opponents’ warnings that the rule will be a death sentence for coal-fired power, EPA leaders have been adamant that they’ll offer states ample “flexibility” to devise their own ways to cut carbon. Some states may join regional cap-and-trade networks, similar to an existing Northeastern compact that has co-existed with coal plants for years. Others could push for investments in wind and solar power, or in energy efficiency programs that help homeowners and businesses reduce their demand for electricity.

The rule, set to become final in mid-2015, would apply to the nation’s thousands of coal and natural gas-fired power plants. But coal — the cheapest, dirtiest and most abundant fossil fuel — would bear the heaviest burden.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...bon-rules-accelerate-shift-from-coal/9713993/
Looks like there will be a one year review period for everyone to get their say starting Monday.
Then states will get one more year to start planning how to comply.
So electricity prices should start to skyrocket around June 2016 I'd estimate




Some backround info how we got here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christo...t-victory-gives-epa-more-ammo-in-war-on-coal/

Importantly, the Supreme Court decision effectively kills any hope that the power utility companies had of keeping the EPA at bay. After eight years of legal efforts to resist ever greater regulation, especially as pertains to limits on carbon dioxide, the utilities have been defeated on every front.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/science/earth/18endanger.html?_r=0

Published: April 17, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that endanger public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that will lead to the regulation of the gases for the first time in the United States.

Still looking for the actual EPA rule. Hmm
http://www.epa.gov/
Doesn't appear to be out yet.


*Edit*
Here it is! Click on the top link
http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards/clean-power-plan-proposed-rule

And here is the impact report that came out later in .pdf format
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/ecas/regdata/RIAs/111dproposalRIAfinal0602.pdf

 

[Bootstoots]

I approve of a "war on coal", although in my pessimism I think the most likely outcome is that we'll just end up saving some extra coal for the period after oil and gas become prohibitively expensive, nuclear plants get decommissioned with no breeder reactors or other advanced nuclear tech, and renewables turn out not to be able to handle baseline power load even as mature techs. Still, it's probably a good idea to save it for later, and if I'm wrong (as I hope), maybe we'll get to leave it in the ground after all.

I do have one qualm though. I don't know what we should do with areas like southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky that contain some of the poorest people in the nation (and all of the poorest white-majority counties). Those places used to be among the most heavily Democratic-aligned rural areas in the nation due to their support of unionized coal miners. But the combination of unions fading, coal companies using mountaintop removal and strip mining to get coal without having to hire large workforces, and environmentalism being associated with both job-killing and liberal "city folk" who disdain the rural poor, they're now heavily Republican and even poorer than before. Reducing coal demand is likely to kill off even more jobs in that area. Are there any ideas for economic development of Appalachian areas that doesn't involve coal mining?

 

[JollyRoger]

Appalachia could stock up on South American women and rely on tourism from Republican politicians.

 

[timtofly]

They could start manufacturing the solar panels for all the new solar panel highways.

 

[schlaufuchs]

Are there any ideas for economic development of Appalachian areas that doesn't involve coal mining?

Tributes.

 

[JollyRoger]

This puts the North Pole in play for the Republicans given Santa's reliance on coal for his naughty list. Personally, I give trashy lingerie to the ones on my naughty list.

 

[Phrossack]

I'm in favor of fighting that mountain-leveling, air-poisoning, archaic power source, just so long as renewables and cleaner energy sources fill the gap. Environmental annihilation will hurt like hell, no need to make it worse.

 

[Bootstoots]

Appalachia could stock up on South American women and rely on tourism from Republican politicians.

That might slightly reduce the number of lies told by said politicians.

 

[Kyriakos]

Isn't coal in America one of the few remaining commodities creating considerable private wealth, not needing the job ties to the government to function?

Doesn't sound good.

 

[JollyRoger]

Ask the typical coal miner how much private wealth they have gained from the venture.

 

[dutchfire]

Considering the success of the War on Drugs and the War on Poverty, I wouldn't be too worried about the future of coal.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Well, we'll see. Obama's wimped out on every strongly-worded "progressive" thing he's promised or proposed so far. I have a feeling this will degenerate into another argument about carbon exchanges and the legacy of Solyndra, and otherwise not really accomplish much.

Tributes.

 

[Cutlass]

It's about time someone declared war on coal!

 

[timtofly]

Maybe they should just sign a peace deal and then leave coal alone?

 

[classical_hero]

Is he seriously wanting the Republicans back in office after his term is over?

 

[Cutlass]

This isn't a big enough issue to matter to the election. Coal miners no longer have national political power.

 

[Arwon]

Good.

 

[Narz]

Good, electricity prices should skyrocket. Too many people leave all their lights blazing & pay no mind to efficiency.

 

[downtown]

Are there any ideas for economic development of Appalachian areas that doesn't involve coal mining?

Land in the area is cheap, and it is often within a day's drive of multiple major population centers. The region could potentially have use as a logistics hub?

 

[Dostayer]

the Americans will find a way to put this hing down down.. somehow...
Anyways, here they say that Natural Gas is way cheaper...
So don't be so sure about it will skyrocket (although you can never know, USA has its own rules and they sometimes upside down)...