War on Coal or "Kinetic Action" To Deny Virginians Income Revenue and Supprt Their Families

or is it just another attempt to break this Nation's economy and send us into 3rd World Status? Based on what I've seen the last 5 years, thats exactly what this buffoon in the White House and his useful idiots are trying to do.

All you DF's, dumasses and numbnuts who stayed home in 2012 because Romney wasn't "conservative enough" are to blame for this.

This is ON YOU!!!

Enjoy poverty. Hope you're well-stocked, you stupid jackwagons.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:  .......Barack Obama launched another assault on coals jobs.  One of his top advisers actually called the plan a war on coal. Obama's latest attempt to eliminate our coal jobs isn't that much different than Terry McAuliffe who said that as Governor he doesn't want another coal plant built.  I just don't understand why anti-coal politicians like Barack Obama and Terry McAuliffe are trying to eliminate our coal jobs and hurt our community.  It's time folks here in Southwest Virginia stand up to Washington D.C. politicians like Barack Obama and Terry McAuliffe and tell them to stop trying to eliminate our coal jobs.  This call was paid for and authorized by the Republican Party of Virginia. 804-780-0111.

 

Coal Has A Significant Impact On Southwest Virginia 

 

The Coal Industry Directly And Indirectly Supports 19,260 Jobs In Virginia In 2011.  ("U.S. Coal Exports: National And State Economic Contributions," Ernst & Young, 5/13, Table 4) 

 

In 2010, The Annual Average Wage In The Coal Industry In Southwest Virginia Was More Than Twice The Average For All Industries.  "[T]he coal industry paid an annual average wage of $84,978 in the region compared to the $34,757 for all industries in 2010 (the latest full year of data). Consequently, the coal industry directly accounted for 12.8% of total wages and salaries in Southwest Virginia." ("The Economic Impact Of The Coal Industry In Virginia," Chmura Economics & Analytics, 1/18/12)

 

The Coal Industry Produced 18.7% Of The Total Economic Output In Southwest Virginia In 2010. "Based on direct, indirect, and induced impacts, the coal industry produced 18.7% of the total economic output in Southwest Virginia and supported 8.9% of the regional employment in 2010." ("The Economic Impact Of The Coal Industry In Virginia," Chmura Economics & Analytics, 1/18/12)

 

The Coal Industry Contributed More Than 11 Percent Of Local Government Revenues In Southwest Virginia In Fiscal Year 2010.  "In fiscal year 2010, the coal industry contributed 11.6% of all revenues from local sources for Southwest Virginia localities. Buchanan, Dickenson, and Wise Counties derived more than 20% of their local revenues from the coal industry."  ("The Economic Impact Of The Coal Industry In Virginia," Chmura Economics & Analytics, 1/18/12)

Clean Coal Works-I've Helped Build It

Nothing but water vapor

No smoke

No sulfur

No particulants

 

 

 

Stop the assault on America's economy. Stop the killing of Virginia jobs. The EPA is senselessly murdering Virginia's economy. The EPA is a job killing monster whose existence has exceeded its usefuleness by 30 years. Its time to rid our country of this blood-sucking parasite.

Now is the time. Americas Power

H.R. 3409 - Virginia (and America) Needs This Legislation

House to Vote on Measure to Halt Overregulation of Coal

 

By: Ross Eisenberg under Energy on September 18, 2012 @ 4:36 pm

[One week ago]Alpha Natural Resources, one of the world’s leading producers of coal, announced plans to idle eight mines and lay off 1,200 workers in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania....  It’s another unfortunate chapter in what has been a very difficult few years for the American coal industry.

It is against this grim backdrop that the House of Representatives will take up H.R. 3409, the “Stop the War on Coal Act.” The bill was scheduled for Rules Committee debate [last] Wednesday and the House floor shortly thereafter. H.R. 3409 takes aim at several federal regulations that, if allowed to go forward, would effectively kick the coal industry while it’s down. Regulations like EPA’s recently-proposed greenhouse gas New Source Performance Standards, which effectively ban the construction of new conventional coal-fired power plants. Or the “Utility MACT” regulation, a $10 billion annual hit to the economy that costs 40 percent more than all of EPA’s power plant-sector air regulations combined.

Coal is one of the nation’s most abundant energy resources and a vital part of our efforts to meet our energy and transportation needs. Coal generates a significant percentage of our nation’s electricity, and maintaining coal in a diverse national energy portfolio is in the national economic interest. The NAM strongly supports H.R. 3409, which would protect a reliable, affordable and available part of our nation’s energy mix from overregulation.

Obama Delivers a Death Blow to the Coal Industry | FrontPage Magazine

Obama Delivers a Death Blow to the Coal Industry FrontPage Magazine

Good luck getting them Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs charged up without a dependable electrical grid. This is one more reason Virginia needs to remove the current occupier of the White House and get this reversed. Coal is an essential part of Virginia's economy. This will result in more jobs lost; more people on government dole. Less and more expensive electricity. Another hand in our pocket taking money they don't deserve for no other reason than they think they can.

Mr Cantor, you need to be making arrangements to get this reversed and protect Virginia jobs.

The coal industry and coal-fired power has been dealt a series of body blows by the Obama administration over the last four years. Yesterday, the EPA delivered the coup de grace to coal, in the form of a new rule that – unless overturned by Congress or a future administration – will ensure that no new, modern coal-fired power plants will be built in the United States.

The EPA released Subpart TTTT of New Source Performance Standards yesterday, a proposed rule that limits carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. No coal-fired power plant can meet the emission limit (1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of power produced), but natural gas-fired power plants can. This will lead to some significant changes in the power energy once the rule goes final, sometime next year.

It is now estimated that around 50,000 to 80,000 megawatts of coal fired power will be retired from the grid over the next few years. Coal fired power is base load power (that is, power that has to be available all of the time) and neither solar nor wind can provide base load power anywhere but in the President’s green fantasies. Biomass (wood, energy crops, etc.) can provide base load power, but there’s not nearly enough of the fuel to replace so much coal. More nuclear power could easily shoulder the load, but there’s no way that we can permit and build enough nuclear plants in the time available. That leaves natural gas as the only fuel that can possibly be used to replace all of that coal.

It’s a shame that we’re knowingly abandoning such a cheap, reliable and plentiful resource like coal in a foolish effort to fulfill a ridiculous crusade led by eco-puritans. It’s maddening that such a decision was made not by Congress, nor by the voters, but by a few faceless bureaucrats hiding behind global-warming pseudo-science that has become the twenty-first century’s version of alchemy. But that’s where we are and, unless something changes this November, that’s where we’re likely to be for quite a while.

EPA Hurting Jobs in Virginia

EPA'S REGULATORY TRAIN WRECK
TELL CONGRESS TO STOP THE EPA FROM KILLING APPALACHIAN JOBS

WE NEED YOU TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

The House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is scheduled to hold a hearing this week on the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory assault on America's mining industry.

Click here to urge your representatives to support reasonable mining policies and demand EPA end its assault on America's coal industry.

EPA cannot be allowed to dictate its own environmental policies without the oversight and approval of our elected representatives in Congress. Thousands of high-paying jobs are in jeopardy; tax revenues that sustain schools and vital services are being threatened; and the coal that provides reliable and affordable electricity is at risk.

Contact your Member of Congress today and make your voice heard!

The focus of Thursday's hearing, "EPA's Mining Policies: Assault on Appalachian Jobs - Part 1," will be on EPA's conductivity surface mining guidance and other regulatory assaults under the Clean Water Act, which could effectively impose a moratorium on new mining permits in Appalachia.

If we work together and speak in one voice, we will end EPA's attack on the coal industry and ensure that our nation continues to benefit from America's abundant supply of coal and other vital minerals for years to come.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

Coal Provides Virginia Jobs

Take Action: Protect Appalachian [and Virginia] Jobs

The Environmental Protection Agency has provided an additional comment period on the agency's proposed new water quality guidelines for coal mining operations in Appalachia. We urge you to visit our Action Center and submit your comments to the EPA telling them you oppose these new guidelines which would effectively bring an end to coal mining in Appalachia. We need you to act now, the deadline to submit comments is tomorrow!

These proposed guidelines would impose new regulatory barriers for coal mining permits in Appalachia effectively stopping the issuance of permits creating a moratorium on coal. Such destructive regulatory actions would jeopardize the economic future of the region and one of our most reliable and economically affordable domestic sources of energy.

It is clear that the EPA is unfairly targeting thousands of hardworking miners and coal communities across Appalachia.

The EPA must listen to those who will be most affected by this policy. We need you to make your voice heard and tell the EPA and the Obama administration that they can't take away coal jobs without hearing the voices of the people that depend on coal to provide for their families and communities across Appalachia.

The deadline to submit comments is tomorrow! Please share this link with people you know, and encourage them to write the EPA today!

ACCE Response to SOTU

ACCCE President and CEO Steve Miller Statement on 2010 State of the Union Remarks
Click here to read the statement on behalf of Stephen L. Miller, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), in response to the 2010 State of the Union remarks.

FACES of Coal

The Virginia Senate is considering SB 564, a law called the “Stream Saver Bill” to fool voters about the bill’s real intent. This proposed legislation would ban mountaintop mining and effectively shut down coal mining operations in our state.

Virginia coal supports more than 30,000 jobs in mining and many other sectors. By ending coal mining in Virginia, we are jeopardizing the well-being of communities that are already battered by a recession. Moreover, coal generates almost half the electricity Virginians need to go about their daily lives.

Click the link below and to write your state legislators today. Urge them to stand up for affordable, domestic energy and good jobs. Tell them to say “No” to SB 564.

Thank you for your support.

Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security
(FACES of Coal)

Click the link below to log in and send your message: http://www.votervoice.net/link/target/faces39996085.aspx

A Message From FACES of Coal

As 2009 draws to a close, we would like to thank you for your support of FACES of Coal and your efforts to ensure that lawmakers and the American people understand that coal energizes our nation and fuels our economy.

Since we launched our campaign in August,

• 40,000 individuals have registered as members of FACES of Coal;
• 104 organizations, including chambers of commerce, fiscal courts, manufacturers and retailers, support our coalition; and
• 1,349 lawmakers representing 44 states have received 30,000 e-mails and letters in support of coal.

Washington bureaucrats have still taken no action on dozens of mining permits that have been arbitrarily stalled. Our legislators have still not delivered the balanced energy and economic policy we need and deserve.

The future of coal mining in America remains uncertain, and we need you to continue writing and calling your elected representatives (you can do so now by clicking the link below).

Remind them our holiday lights are shining bright because of the affordable electricity generated by coal. And we can provide good food and gifts to our families and friends in our warm homes, because of the good jobs sustained by coal.

Thank you for your efforts to protect our jobs and secure our future.

We wish you and yours a happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security(FACES of Coal)

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
http://www.votervoice.net/link/target/faces39210323.aspx

American Resources Review

We can't stop using coal. But we should use every flammable substance we have to generate power.


Millions of Jobs would be Exported

National Mining Association President and CEO, Hal Quinn, contributed to a recent forum on National Journal’s “Energy and Environment” experts blog:
We do not believe that the public interest is well served by policies that approach
our energy future as a zero-sum game.

Public policies encouraging the replacement of coal based electricity generation with natural gas are the bridge for accelerating the export of our manufacturing base and, with it, millions of high-wage jobs.

Look no further than actual experience over the past decade. As the use of natural gas increased for generating electricity, our manufacturing sector paid substantially higher prices for electricity (56 percent) and natural gas (200 percent).

In a report released last year, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) warned that “policies that encourage the use of natural gas to substitute for coal in power generation could very well lead to spectacular price increases for households and industry.”

Heritage Morning Bell - Wacky/Marxist Bill

The Transparent Costs of Cap and Trade

On June 26th of this year, the House of Representatives narrowly passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. More commonly known as the Waxman-Markey bill (named after bill sponsors Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), the 1,427-page bill tries to control global temperatures by creating a “cap” on greenhouse gas emissions, and then hoping that greenhouse emitters would “trade” emissions permits meet the cap. Under the scheme, the government would issue fewer allowances each year, causing the cost of the permits to rise. The cost of these allowances is a tax, and under Waxman-Markey, the tax would rise each year. As with any tax, it will ultimately be passed on to consumers in the form of higher energy and product prices.

On August 6th, the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis released a report detailing the economic costs of the Waxman-Markey. Since energy is the lifeblood of the American economy, 85 percent of which comes from CO2-emitting fossil fuels, the Waxman-Markey bill’s arbitrary and severe restrictions on the current energy supply and infrastructure will not only have direct impact on consumers’ budgets through higher electric bills and gasoline prices, but also cause unnecessary inefficiencies at virtually every stage of production. CDA estimates that Waxman-Markey legislation would cost the average family-of-four almost $3,000 per year, cause 2.5 million net job losses by 2035, and a produce a cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2035.

Surely our study did not produce the results Waxman and Markey expected. Earlier this month Reps. Waxman and Markey sent us, and a number of other institutions, a letter asking us to answer 33 methodological questions about the analytical techniques used in our study. We were delighted by Waxman and Markey’s letter since it is just the kind of thoughtful investigative work our lawmakers should do more often. For example, they asked if our model took into account an increase in private sector investments in research and development that would be sparked by the legislation and a new carbon market. Answer: It did. Our model incorporates both short and long-run responses to higher energy prices.

Waxman also asked if our model quantified any benefits of avoided climate change. Answer: It didn’t. Because according to estimates based on IPCC data, the Waxman-Markey bill would only impact global temperatures by .044 degrees C (about .09 degrees F) by 2050. There simply are no economic benefits from such a minuscule impact.

Waxman-Markey did not send their questions to some notable organizations that have conducted analysis of their bill like the Congressional Budget Office and the Brooking Institution. After we requested they do so, we have since received word that Waxman and Markey sent the same letter to the CBO. They had previously included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Information Administration (EIA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), CRA International, the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), and the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).

In the interests of an honest and transparent debate about the costs of cap and trade the Heritage Foundation has devoted a space on our website, www.heritage.org, where we have posted our answers in their entirety. We have formally invited the other organizations who were asked these questions to allow us to post their responses as well, in the interest of full transparency.

Let’s hope the Waxman-Markey questionnaire signals that a serious debate can now take place. American families deserve to be kept fully apprised of how Congress intends to act, and how those actions will most likely affect their pocketbooks, their jobs, and their lives.

Enviro-Wackos Whining About Bats

FACES of Coal

Environmentalists are trying to have it both ways in West Virginia – no coal mining and no wind farms. West Virginians wonder whether or not they will have electricity if the environmentalists win both the coal and wind fights.
Environmentalists divided over wind turbines, endangered bats - washingtonpost.com
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
GREENBRIER COUNTY,
W.VA. -- Workers atop mountain ridges are putting together 389-foot windmills with massive blades that will turn Appalachian breezes into energy. Retiree David Cowan is fighting to stop them.

Bob McDonnell Should Visit Dutch Gap

"I think it's a real concern, and we need to find ways to be able to reduce [carbon dioxide] emissions," Mr. McDonnell said in advocating development of technology to eliminate pollutants from coal-fired energy plants.

Hello!!! We have it and we are doing it.

Learn about it...talk about it.
We're one of the first, again.
Virginia has always been first.

Coal, National Security and Virginia Jobs

We have a petition opposing the Wacky-Marxist legislation.

It goes like this:

We, your constituents, have signed this petition against the passage of the Waxman-Markey bill and the Senate version of the Cap and Trade Bill and the trillions of dollars and the 100’s of thousands of jobs it will cost the Commonwealth and all of America.

This legislation will increase the cost of energy in the Commonwealth at a time when every feasible source of domestic energy should be explored and used, and at a time when Virginians can afford it least.

Virginia is a coal state. There are thousands of Virginians whose livelihood depends upon the production and use of coal; hard working, tax-paying Virginians who deserve better.

Coal is a reliable source of energy.

It is plentiful.

Clean coal technology works.

The theory of so-called “global warming”, or “climate change” is junk science.

CO2 is not a pollutant.

Ya'll know how I feel about domestic energy production and specifically, the use of coal. You know I help build clean coal facilities for Dominion Power. I've told people over and over, clean coal works its viable, and its cheap.

This is, IMAO, a states' rights issue. A 10th Amendment Issue. Its Virginia's coal. We should be able to use our resources as we see fit, within the guidelines of good sense and economic viability.

The current crop of new candidates seeking election to the House of Delegates and VA Senate would be well-served to address this issue now. Do not allow the radicals and outside agitators to dictate Virginia's economy. The future of Virginia jobs and her citizens depend on you for protection.

Thanks to one of my Facebook friends I found a link to a website supporting coal production in Appalachia. You'll see a new avatar on the left hand side of this website.

Go and sign the letter, please.

From the website:
Coal energizes our communities and the nation. It fuels our economy and powers our homes and businesses. It provides good jobs and an economic future for our families. But radical activists are determined to end coal in Appalachia. They don't care about our jobs, our communities or our future. Without coal, our thriving communities will not survive. Sign the letter today.

Dear Elected Officials,
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has arbitrarily decided to halt for further review 79 pending coal mining permits in the Appalachian states. These permits have been reviewed and approved by both state and federal regulatory authorities, after the EPA had commented, or chosen not to comment, on each of the permit applications.

Only when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wholly rejected the challenges by outside environmental activists, did EPA decide to intervene and reassert the same arguments the courts had already rejected.

EPA's action, or inaction, is threatening more than 100,000 jobs and further destabilizes communities that have been battered by the recession. Moreover, millions of Americans depend on coal for affordable electricity, and the Appalachian states depend on coal for tax revenue that keeps their budgets afloat.

When nationwide unemployment is at its highest level in years, the government should not stop Americans from going to work. When states are facing major budget shortfalls and even bankruptcy because of the weak economy, the federal government should not kill significant sources of revenue.

The consequences of the EPA's actions will be severe. Please take action today to pressure the EPA to lift these bureaucratic roadblocks. The future of families across Appalachia depends on you.

Thank you,

Cap and Trade CO2 Emissions

The thermometer watching tree hugging enviro-nazis are salivating at the prospect of this bill being passed. It will decimate the American economy, destroy jobs and do what the marxist idiots want:

Put America on the same level as Cuba or worse.

CO2 bill will cost jobs, raise energy costs

The spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation says the Waxman-Markey bill will have enormous negative impacts if passed.

The Waxman-Markey bill -- described by some as an energy tax in disguise -- recently made it out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill seeks to tackle the issue of alleged "manmade climate change" by limiting the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by businesses and power plants. Sometimes referred to as "cap-and-trade" legislation, the bill seeks to reduce CO2 emission by 17 percent by the year 2020.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu praises the legislation. "[It] is our best shot of anything I've seen in recent legislative pasts where Congress might get something [passed], and it's got a lot of support in the industry now," he told Reuters. But Dr. E Calvin Beisner with the Cornwall Alliance disagrees. "It will increase energy costs across the board," he notes. "It will probably lead to the loss of, in an average year between now and 2035, of about 1.1 million jobs."

Beisner also contends that energy costs will increase by about $125 per month per household. And he says the overall cost will be about $9.6 trillion between now and 2035. According to Beisner, for the past several years there has been no global warming -- and temperatures have been falling faster than they have been predicted to rise in the next 100 years. He also concludes that if the Waxman-Markey bill passes, it will have no significant effect on global temperatures in the next 50 to 100 years.

Beisner is not alone in his concerns about the Waxman-Markey bill. Ben Lieberman, senior policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation, offered his comments at the International Conference on Climate Change this spring. "This is an energy tax in disguise," he stated. "Energy prices go up -- but it's done in such a roundabout and convoluted way that the hope is the public doesn't recognize it as a tax, at least not until it's too late."

The bill must pass through several more committees before it goes before the full House for a final vote.

So all you tree-hugging thermometer watchers just hold your breath for 5 minutes beginning now. That will reduce CO2 levels dramatically.

WST-Richmond Action Item

>>> Action Item

Please CALL your representative and these key members of the Committee:


Key Energy and Commerce Committee who need to hear from grassroots Americans:

Rep. Michael Ross (AR) 202-225-3772
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA) 202-225-4031
Rep. G. Butterfield (NC) 202-225-3101
Rep. Zack Space (OH) 202-225-6265
Rep. Michael Doyle (PA) 202-225-2135
Rep. Bart Gordon (TN) 202-225-4231
Rep. Charles Gonzalez (TX) 202-225-3236
Rep. Gene Green (TX) 202-225-1688
Rep. James Matheson (UT) 202-225-3011
Rep. Rick Boucher (VA) 202-225-3861
Rep. Peter Welch (VT) 202-225-4115
Rep. Jay Inslee (WA) 202-225-6311


>>> Talking Points

1. I am disappointed that Rep. Waxman is rushing the 1,000-page cap-and-trade Carbon Tax through the Energy and Commerce Committee this week.

2. This bill deserves full deliberation and should not be rushed.

3. I oppose the cap-and-trade Carbon Tax. This is an outrageous power grab by the federal government that will greatly expand government control and increase my taxes.

4. Especially in these difficult economic times, Congress must not pass this tax on the American people!

I saw a news item that indicated oil companies were reducing exploration and recovery due to the Cap and Trade. No exploration, no new wells.

Power companies which are currently expending millions for clean-coal technology are going to be hit hard with this Carbon Tax, and electric rates are going to go up.

Dhimmicrats Intentionally Sabotage American Economic Independence

Family Security Matters

....the Obama administration has installed an “energy team” that is completely opposed to the development of any energy resources in America, from offshore and ANWR oil to coal mining or the construction of coal-fired plants to generate electricity. Coal currently produces 50% of the nation’s electricity.

Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy, is on record saying, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

It is $8 a gallon there.

Oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, along with Venezuela, will grow rich while Americans will be faced with high costs for gasoline, motor and heating oil, and everything else that depends on oil such as asphalt or even Vaseline.

Meanwhile, oil producers in America, large and small, will take a financial beating. If you don’t like living in a modern, advanced and industrialized society, you will favor this. If you think Americans consume too much, drive too much, and deserve to be punished for it, you will favor this.

Recently, Barry Russell, the president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, released a statement in which he said, “President Obama delivered a devastating blow to the American oil and natural gas industry by proposing an astonishing $30 billion tax increase (as part of his FY 2010 budget) on American energy producers, most of whom are small businesses.”

“Ninety percent of the oil and natural gas wells developed in the United States are done by small, independent businesses – not so called ‘Big Oil’ – so tax increases hurt these companies most.” It also, of course, hurts any prospect for the discovery and production of new sources of oil and natural gas in America.

Reality UPDATE

Here's an idea for all you tree-hugging wackjobs who think we have too much CO2 in the air.
If you're really serious about reducing CO2 emissions, I have a plan that will reduce CO2 levels by 50% in no time at all. It won't cost anyone any money, it is fool-proof, and it will go a long way towards showing all of us that you're serious about the state of the environment....

STOP BREATHING FOR 5 MINUTES!!!
The resulting brain damage would be negligible, since you're already brain-dead.


Last night on TV, I saw a commercial that really pissed me off. The premise of the commercial is that clean coal technology is not real. A guy is wandering around a desolate landscape, yelling into the microphone, telling us all about clean coal.

I help build clean coal facilities. I've helped build one, and we're working on another one. The technology is real and it works.

This commercial is blatantly false and very offensive to me, and I am seriously considering a lawsuit against the perpetrators.

I shoulda figured. Alliance for Climate Change. AlBore and his minions. They would prefer we live in caves and cook over campfires; then they'd bitch about the wood smoke.

Beware of Politicans Who Give You What You Ask For

You may be getting something else entirely.

From the DCExaminer Editorial Page:

Beware the capitulators. Republicans are chortling over the fact that their “drill, drill, drill” campaign seems to have forced Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi to backtrack and agree to relax the ban on offshore drilling.

Beware what is contained in the Trojan horse the Illinois senator and the congresswoman from San Francisco are offering as a peace token to the Republicans and to Americans who are appalled that the Congress continues to prevent the development of our oil resources, while crude oil and gasoline prices, although softening in recent weeks, remain high enough to contribute to the forces that are pulling the economy perilously close to recession.

Obama and Pelosi have no answer to a few simple questions: If they are now convinced that it is a good idea to develop our own resources of oil, why do they oppose a bill that would do that, and only that? Instead of making this now-agreed measure one ornament on a Christmas tree to subsidies, why not pass it on its own, and ASAP?

And if it is now good policy to give some states the power to approve drilling off their coasts, why not Pelosi’s California?

We know that she has acknowledged carrying the heavy burden of saving the planet -- dwellers on this planet who have not had the opportunity of voting for or against her might not be delighted with this news -- but as speaker of the House she surely also has the burden of preventing the steady flow of trillions of dollars to oil-producing countries that wish us ill.

But these are only the most obvious of the reasons to be suspicious of the Obama-Pelosi-Democratic climb down. More important is their insistence that any drilling be done in an environmentally sensitive manner. Now, that sounds reasonable enough. After all, who favors drilling in an environmentally insensitive manner? The problem comes when that generalization is put to the test of actual practice.

Those of us who have in the past been involved in proceedings to which environmental groups are parties know that their first goal is to have any project strangled at birth -- whether a drilling project, a new nuclear or coal plant, a wind farm, a transmission line.

To achieve that goal, they often do not need to prevail. All they have to do is delay, delay, delay, dragging out some hearings and appeals for decades, while costs rise and the sponsors lose interest.

There is not enough space here to review cases in which threats to a tiny fish (the snail darter) and the spotted owl provided ammunition for those opposing or seeking to delay a dam and logging in the Northwest, respectively.

More recently, of the 151 coal-fired power plants in the planning stages in 2007, 59 were either refused licenses or quietly abandoned in the face of opposition, and another 50 are being contested in the courts by environmental groups. And we have enough coal to power our electric plants for more years than anyone can count.

The goal of many greens was clearly stated by David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel of the Sierra Club. The Los Angeles Times reports that he said, “We hope to clog up the system,” using what the press characterizes as “any bureaucratic or legal means necessary.”

None of this is to say that environmental costs should be ignored when considering granting a go-ahead to various energy projects. But it is clear that there are few if any projects that will not bring the environmental lawyers into the nation’s hearing rooms and courts.

Environmentalists say they are enthusiastic about renewable energy. But “the greens are blocking the very transmission network needed for renewable electricity to move through the economy,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

The utilities willing to spend $1 billion to build the needed 240 miles of transmission line are projecting a completion date of 2014 at the earliest because of the length of permitting hearings and subsequent appeals.

And that’s for 240 miserable little miles of wire. Imagine how long it would take to get through the process of winning approval for drilling offshore.

The pity is not that environmental considerations are given weight -- they should be-- but that the process by which the balance between energy needs and environmental preservation is struck is tilted to favor those who know that delay can drive up costs and kill even the most environmentally sensitive projects.

I'm So Disappointed

SWACGirl has more here.

This morning I rolled into the Chesterfield Power Station at Dutch Gap and beheld a sight I had not seen since the DHS raid on the St Francis Medical Center job site back in 2004.
At the intersection of Coxendale and Old Stage Roads were parked 25 Chesterfield County Police cars, lights flashing, with several large white SUV's close by.
Uh oh, I thought, ICE is back for another round of illegal worker sweeps. Then I remembered that most of the workers, having completed this new 1750 mega-watt, clean-coal fired power plant had left for Cliffside and Shelby to begin the conversion of those facilities to clean-coal and continue the process that will give us clean electrical power for decades.
As I rolled up to the gate, the Wackenhut guard stepped out and I rolled down my window and asked if we were expecting protesters.
"Yes we are" was the answer.
My heart skipped a beat. Hot damn!!! I get to video the best example of idiocy in action, as people who scream for clean power, protesting at the first location in the Commonwealth to give them exactly what they've been asking for.
I checked my video camera for battery power, made sure the disk was clean, found a shady spot, and set up the tripod. and waited. and waited. and waited.
Alas, it was not to be. After verifying with Dominion Security that they had no idea what time the idiots were going to arrive and that they had no permit to protest on county property, I checked a few websites and discovered that Mountain Justice had the North Anna facility on their schedule for today, but not Chesterfield.
Darn. Oh well, better luck next time. You just can't depend on anyone anymore, not even enviro wackjobs protesting what they ask for.
About 1330 I had a conversation with a Dominion Security officer and told him the idiots were not going to show up.
"We scared 'em" he said.
"Well," I said, that may be true, but according to their website, they didn't have this location on their calendar for today."
"What website?" he asked. I told him the name of the site. I love it when that happens.