I like a warm house in the winter, a cool house in the dog days of August. I’m not so sure the Environmental Protection Agency wants the same for me. Amid the unresolved global warming debate, the EPA has proclaimed that it knows what’s best. When Congress refused to pass carbon caps, the bureaucrats at the rogue EPA seized power for themselves.

This morning I saw a cardinal sitting on top of the brand-new smart meter installed last summer. It got me thinking. If the EPA determines Indiana can’t generate any more electricity from coal, what then?

Eighty percent of our electricity comes from coal, much more than most states. Will the utility companies be forced to limit our usage because there isn’t enough to go around? What about expense? The Obama administration’s own comments state energy costs could “necessarily skyrocket” up to 80 percent. How’s that going to work out for the 30 percent of Hoosiers on Social Security?

What about the thousands who’ll lose their jobs due to these severe regulations?

House Rep. Chris Judy introduced a bill this session that could make a difference. House Bill 1290 says “no” to the EPA. It re-establishes the right of Indiana to determine its own energy policy, to set all rules and administer funding through our legislature with IDEM responsible for implementation. It makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Hoosiers deciding what’s best for Hoosiers.

Now in a perfect world, I’d be anticipating passage of HB 1290. In the real world, I’m worried. Though every single member of the Indiana Senate and House swore allegiance to the constitution, though Republicans hold a majority in both houses, I’m apprehensive because I know how the game is played in Indy.

The merry-go-round begins each January when bills are reviewed by Senate President Pro Tem Long and House Speaker Bosma. If a bill doesn’t fit their agenda, they banish it to the rules committee, the “graveyard” where bills usually die. The remainder are assigned to committees to be edited and adjusted.

Next comes the hearing. House Bill 1290, assigned to the Environmental Affairs committee, most assuredly deserves a hearing. But not so fast. Word is behind-the-scene pressure from “leadership” is being placed on chairman Wolkins to forgo a hearing. No hearing, no bill.

Who are these anonymous powerbrokers who’d thwart the will of the people, these puppet masters who’d prevent a bill from getting an honest discussion? Why are they so feared by our legislators, those who solicited our votes with promises to fight against “big government”?

In late spring the senators and representatives melt back into their districts. “I didn’t get an opportunity to vote,” “I did everything I could” is their mantra. “Next year …” they vow year after year after year.

Oh, but we know the game. Representatives bow to leadership, leadership curtsies to Washington. The rights of the people are ravaged by the very officials elected to protect them.

Like the cardinal on my smart meter, we must decide. Will we fly south or stand up and let the spirit of liberty be heard?

Our founders who fought against the tyranny of King George never envisioned we’d so easily submit to the tyranny of bureaucracy.

That’s why the 10th Amendment is so important. The powers not delegated specifically to the federal government are reserved for the sovereign states. I must have missed the article in the Constitution that gives the federal government the ability to regulate light bulbs.

The Due Process and Takings Clause “prevents the government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which in all fairness and justice should be borne by the public as a whole.” Indiana shouldn’t be punished because God put coal in the hills of our southern counties.

The Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, affirmed by the Supreme Court no less, says Washington can’t compel states to enforce their federal regulatory programs.

Last time I checked, the EPA’s the mother of all federal regulatory agencies.

Call your reps. You probably won’t get to them, but maybe you can educate their aids. Tell them Hoosiers can’t afford more EPA nonsense.

The new EPA coal plan will devastate Indiana. I didn’t say that. Gov. Mike Pence did. It’s time to deliver Indiana from the unconstitutional EPA. House Bill 1290 must have a hearing.

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