Obama Has Finally Found a Promise He Can Keep

During his campaign Obama promised that he will tax the coal burning utilities to death. The EPA has one public hearing left before they pass some very tight restrictions on carbon emissions that affect half of our nations power needs.
Here is a link to what the EPA has to say about this new set of rules:


Standards for the Management of Coal Combustion Residuals Generated by Commercial Electric Power Producers

From a Business Journal article, New EPA regs could prompt Constellation to close some coal plants, there is a good chance that Constellation will close at least three of their power plants when the regulations do pass. At another plant they have spent $1 billion installing scrubbers in anticipation of the new regulations. With the new regs affecting half of this countries production, rates which have been steadily rising, have only one direction to go.

Obama tried to push his “Cap and Trade” legislation but Democrats balked at forcing through one more of his initiatives after driving up the deficit three times higher than at any time in the past. Of course his buddies in Chicago were very disappointed at this because the yet-to=be established trading floor for the carbon credits will be located in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Getting rid of a known source of air pollution is important but to do so in a way that restricts, reduces and drives the cost up on power generation is incredibly irresponsible at this time. As with most of Obama’s initiatives his prime concern seems to be getting something in place so he can tweak it later without publicity or transparency. Any concern that he expounds is betrayed when the details come out.