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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezr...e_if_re_1.html




What life will look like if Republicans win the House, Part III


Environmental edition:

Right now, Lisa Jackson's EPA is the country's last defense against endlessly rising carbon emissions. Thanks to a 2007 Supreme Court decision, the agency is supposed to start regulating greenhouse gases as soon as next year. That's not a perfect substitute for cap-and-trade -- realistically, agency officials estimate they could only cut emissions 5 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 -- but it's a start. (Here's my primer on what EPA action would entail.) What's more, the EPA is unfurling a number of rules on pollutants like sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-dioxide, all of which could force utilities to shut down their oldest, dirtiest coal plants in the coming years.
That is, unless Republicans can stop the EPA. And they'll certainly try. Yesterday, the likely head of the House energy committee, Fred Upton, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Times declaring war on the new pollution rules. For one, Republicans will try to pass resolutions stripping the EPA of its authority over greenhouse gases; Kit Bond, for one, has promised to attach just such a rider to every new bill that moves through the Senate.

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By Ezra Klein | October 25, 2010; 9:20 AM ET
Categories: Climate Change

[American Patriot]

UPTON: Declaring war on the regulatory state

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...ulatory-state/

Pelosi's Congress ignores the red-tape brigade but the GOP won't

By Rep. Fred Upton
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The Washington Times
6:00 p.m., Monday, October 18, 2010

Illustration: EPA regulations by Linas Garsys for The Washington Times

Question of the Day





Our nation is confronted with serious problems that require a fundamental reassessment of the size and role of government. With unemployment near 15 percent in many parts of the country, an unsustainable debt and unbridled federal spending, people fear the actions of a federal government that has grown too large and hinders rather than encourages economic growth. Folks desire a government that is responsive to their concerns and responsible with the resources they provide it. They want government returned to its proper, more limited role in their lives. They want a government that fosters the right conditions for job creation and economic growth.


This Democrat-controlled Congress has exploded the size of government, expanded government into more sectors of our economy, driven the national debt to unprecedented levels, placed spending on a trajectory that imperils future generations, and created a hostile environment for businesses large and small, turning a blind eye to the seemingly endless job-killing red tape coming from the administration. This Congress has failed to exercise oversight over agencies that have been developing regulations that stifle private investment and send American jobs overseas. As the late Walter Wriston, who advised President Reagan on economic policy during my tenure at the Office of Management and Budget, once said, "Capital will go to where it's wanted and stay where it's treated well."


Should Republicans recapture the House in November, we will have a fundamentally different approach. Over the past four years, the priorities of Congress have fallen out of sync with those of the American people. For instance, one of Nancy Pelosi's first acts as House speaker was to create a new Select Committee on Climate Change. To date, this new select committee has needlessly spent nearly $8 million in taxpayer money, and that does not account for the countless dollars spent on so-called "fact finding" missions. By law, this select committee has no legislative role; its sole purpose is to write reports. The only jobs created by this committee are within the confines of Capitol Hill. The American people do not need Congress to spend millions of dollars to write reports and fly around the world. We must terminate this wasteful committee.


During the final two years of the George W. Bush administration, Mrs. Pelosi and oversight committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman were eager to exert Congress' oversight authority. They made countless inquiries, requested reams of documents and repeatedly called Cabinet secretaries and agency leaders to testify under oath. No program or executive action went unnoticed or unchecked. Oddly, we have not seen the same enthusiasm since the Obama administration has taken the helm. As a result, the economy has worsened, government spending is at an all-time high, and federal agencies are rampantly codifying more regulations that create a disincentive for private investment and the hiring of new employees. It is the constitutional duty of the House of Representatives to provide a check on the power of the executive branch. Over the past two years, the Pelosi-controlled Congress has been derelict in its duty.


We keep asking, "Where is the economic growth? Where are the jobs?" Because of the administration's restrictive regulatory stranglehold on industry, companies are lacking the certainty or financial flexibility to hire new employees or invest in new plants or equipment. Instead, they hang onto their capital knowing that regulatory costs and taxes will increase, thus limiting their ability to invest for the future. It is a glaring indictment of current policies that U.S. enterprises are resigned to sit back and gain interest on their stockpiles of cash rather than invest and innovate.


Private enterprise, not government, is the heart and soul of our economy. By discouraging private investment, we eviscerate job growth. Regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies are only further smothering the economy. The government cannot buy or regulate its way out of this mess. It's time for a new approach.


If the EPA continues unabated, jobs will be shipped to China and India as energy costs skyrocket. Most of the media attention has focused on the EPA's efforts to regulate climate-change emissions, but that is just the beginning. The EPA is working on a regulatory train wreck that includes the following job-killing regulations:


c Cooling water intake systems for power plants: Costs would range from $300 million per coal plant (413 facilities impacted) to $1 billion for nuclear (59 units impacted). As a result, many plants would be shuttered and energy prices will rise significantly.


c Coal ash: Under current regulations, coal byproducts are widely recycled, creating jobs and protecting the environment. New EPA regulations could cost more than $20 billion and tens of thousands of jobs.


c Industrial and commercial boilers: New EPA regulations put nearly 800,000 jobs at risk.


c Revised ozone: Created without any new scientific evidence, this new rule would have a crushing impact on jobs (in the neighborhood of 7 million jobs lost) and business expansion nationwide with an estimated cost approaching $1 trillion annually.


These are just a handful of the job-killing regulations the EPA is finalizing, and that is just one agency.


Under a Republican Congress, setting the stage for economic growth and protecting jobs will be a top priority and we will reassert our constitutional oversight authority.



Federal government agencies have overstepped their authority and have not been held accountable for their aggressive actions. No significant regulation should take effect until Congress has voted to approve it and the president has had an opportunity to approve or veto congressional action. Right now, these regulations are free to hide in the shadows of the Federal Register. By shedding additional light on the regulatory beast, we can keep government limited and accountable.


Our government was once of the people, by the people, for the people. The pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction. If the gavel is taken out of Mrs. Pelosi's grasp, we will fight for economic growth and jobs and restore the American public's faith and pride in their government.


Rep. Fred Upton is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan. He could be the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee if Republicans take over the House in upcoming elections.

[American Patriot]

Obama could be helped in 2012 by GOP success in 2010

07:57 AM

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...cess-in-2010/1






From left to right: President Obama; House Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; and House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.


CAPTION

By Charles Dharapak, AP

Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton forged different kinds of presidencies, but they had at at least two things in common.

All four saw their parties get battered in congressional elections.


And all four regained the presidency in part by using congressional opposition as a foil.


Many analysts are starting to think a Republican takeover of the U.S. House -- and perhaps the Senate -- could actually help President Obama when he seeks re-election in 2012.


"If the Republicans capture both House and Senate, the odds of Obama winning in 2012 go up," historian Steven M. Gillon told The New York Times. "If the Democrats keep both houses, then Congress will hover over him and he's going to have less room to maneuver."


Obama has served notice that in the coming months he will press Republicans on specific spending cuts needed to reduce the federal budget deficit. The president is already arguing that GOP budget plans would lead to drastic cuts in education. He will also fight any efforts to roll back the health care law and the new Wall Street regulations.


On the other hand, Obama says he wants to work with Republicans on such issues as energy and immigration.


Of course, Republicans also plan to pressure the president if they win control of the House, the Senate, or both.


Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, who stands to become speaker of the House, told the Associated Press that Obama and the Democrats will have to give up the idea of federal spending to stimulate the economy. "They're going to have to signal some kind of willingness to work with Republicans to cut spending," Boehner said.


Obama and the Republicans will no doubt disagree on the best ways to cut spending, and on a host of other issues that will form the backdrop of the president's 2012 re-election bid.


Potentially, the incumbent can drawn on the examples of two Democratic predecessors.


Truman won an upset election victory in 1948 by running against the "Do Nothing Congress" led by Republicans. And Clinton pounded Newt Gingrich and the new-style GOP conservatives as he cruised to re-election in 1996.


What kind of Congress might Obama run against?


(Posted by David Jackson)

[vector7]

The EPA, Another Enemy of the People

by drclarkjensen on December 28, 2010


Coal power is cleaner than you think

Our founding fathers wrote the Constitution in order to protect our States and our people from tyranny. They didn’t want the federal government to become like the government they were subject to from the British. They didn’t want to have a government that was oppressive to the people. They did not want taxation with out representation. They wanted their voices to be heard. They wanted freedom.

Sadly, over the years ( yes I know I sound like a broken record) the concepts of limited government, States rights, the rights of the people and people’s law have been ignored more and more frequently. I want to visit with you about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a federal agency that is out of control. An agency that is punishing the people, that is making it difficult for businesses to comply, that is destroying our energy industry and making energy more expensive for our people and that is writing law unconstitutionally.

Here is a quick summary of the Constitutional issues. All legislation should come from the legislative body (Congress). Neither the Executive Branch or the Judicial Branch should be allowed to legislate, yet over time, we have allowed both to write laws for our nation. Currently the Executive Branch, through executive agencies (FCC, IRS, OSHA, FTC,FDA the EPA and others) writes more law than Congress does. Law written by those executive branch agencies are written by unelected, unaccountable, individuals who are given tremedous power over the people. Congress should be overseeing those agencies, but for the most part, Congress does little to prevent those agencies from abusing the States and the people. As a result, these executive agencies have become tyrannical. They ignore the will of the people and people’s law.

Getting back of where we started with the EPA, I want to specifically talk about how the EPA is controlling and trying to control coal powered power plants in the United States.

The Sierra club recently claimed they were able, through EPA regulations, to stop the construction of over 100 coal powered electric power plants in the United States. The Sierra club is now claiming their next objection is to push the EPA to close existing power plants. How do they plan to do so? They(the EPA) will make regulations so onerous that it will be impossible for the power plants to comply. The EPA seems to be pretty willing to listen to fringe groups like the Sierra Club.

Bill Becker, a noted advocate for EPA climate change regulations wants to require coal powered electric power plants to become more efficient. How does he propose to do that? Does he not recognize that power plants already are doing everything in their power to produce power as efficiently as possible. Those who opporate power plants are motivated by the market to do so, why would they do otherwise. Yet now we have some bubble head who thinks government needs to mandate a higher standard than is achievable with current technology. How does Mr Becker think power plants will be able to become compliant and why does he think he has any right to dictate such regulations to a power company?

Becker states,”For the first time in history, EPA will require that facilities go through a process of examining every piece of their operations and take actions to improve energy efficiency.” ARRRRG! Government is already involved in the market to the point that we are killing business efficiency.

Why does this guy think that government oversight will do anything other than make energy more expensive to the consumer and possibly frustrate energy companies to the point they will completely abandon energy production.

Okay, who is this Becker guy anyway? He is the executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. Great! What does he believe? Here is a quote from Becker’s blog. “ There will come a time when governments are forced to act on global climate change. Its impacts will be increasingly devastating and undeniable. The cost will swell like a tsunami. We will see many more Katrinas with victims stranded not because governments are incompetent, but because they are overwhelmed.”

Oh no, another Koolaid drinker and he is in charge!

Here are some facts, Coal supplies 50 percent of our nations electricity and almost all of that coal is mined in the United States. We can not have energy independence without coal. It can’t happen. Further, 85 percent of all electricity comes from fossil fuels. And finnally, man made CO2 levels are insignificant and have no effect on global temperatures as we have been lead to believe (see God made Global Warming ) http://drclarkjensen.com/2010/12/god...lobal-warming/

If you have been reading my blog, you will soon come to the understanding that the federal government is becoming a government of rulers instead of a government that is controlled by the people. The Government is not paying attention to the free market, to the Constitution to Natural Law or to the rights of the people. Our Governments foundation in faith in a Creator and in his law is also quickly fading.

How important is it that we get back to abidding by the original intent of the Constitution?

Vitally important!

If we don’t… you finish the sentence.