14Mar

Charles Steele Jr.: Let’s Tell the EPA: First, Do No Harm

Via The Kokomo Tribune: You’ve probably heard the familiar oath: “First, do no harm.” It’s the pledge doctors are obliged to follow when treating an illness or injury. Our government in Washington should heed the same advice: Don’t treat one problem by creating another, more serious one. That caution comes to mind as I’ve considered […]
13Mar

Clean Power Plan Bills Generate Debate Across the Southeast, Midwest

Via E&E Publishing: Jeffrey Tomich and Kristi E. Swartz As U.S. EPA continues to work on a final version of the Clean Power Plan for release later this summer, conservative lawmakers in more than a dozen states are trying to ensure they get the final say on how their state responds to it, citing concerns […]
13Mar

States Fling Criticism at EPA’s Power Plant Rules

Via The Washington Examiner: BY JOHN SICILIANO  States heaped criticism on the Obama administration’s proposed climate rules Wednesday, saying its power plant regulations would harm their economies and damage electricity reliability. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, parsed therules as tearing at the fabric of “federalism” and harming state […]
13Mar

Indiana Could Refuse to Comply with EPA Emissions Rule

Via The Indianapolis Star: WASHINGTON – Indiana may refuse to comply with a pending federal rule to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the head of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management said Wednesday. IDEM Commissioner Thomas Easterly testified at a Senate hearing about the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule, which would require Indiana to […]
12Mar

Biden On Coal Regulations: ‘A Lot Of People Are Going To Get Hurt’

Via the Daily Caller: Vice President Joe Biden told HBO viewers that federal regulations to move the U.S. away from coal-fired power will hurt a lot of Americans. “Us moving away from coal because it’s such a polluter, there’s a lot of people going to get hurt, good people who worked their whole life,” Biden told […]
12Mar

States Should Reject EPA’s Power Plant Rule

EPA’s proposed power plant rule offers states fake “flexibility” to choose which carbon-reduction measures to implement. For EPA, “flexibility” means allowing states to choose the method of their own economic wounding – and allowing EPA to shift the blame for the rule’s disastrous consequences. States should avoid this trap by refusing to be complicit in […]
12Mar

State lawmakers push back against EPA’s Clean Power Plan in Fla., Minn.

Via E&E Publishing: Scott Detrow A growing number of state legislatures are trying to insert themselves into the debate over crafting plans to comply with U.S. EPA’s unprecedented effort to lower the carbon footprints of state power sectors. Pennsylvania and West Virginia have already enacted laws giving their legislative chambers veto power over the proposals […]
11Mar

Barrasso Joins Push Calling on States to ‘Just Say No’ to Power Rule

Via E&E Publishing: Jean Chemnick, E&E reporter Senate Republican Policy Chairman John Barrasso last night became the latest GOP senator to call on states to boycott implementation of U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan, arguing in an email memo that doing so would undermine the controversial rule. The Wyoming Republican echoed the theme of Senate Majority […]
11Mar

Debate Grows Louder Over States Saying ‘No’ to Clean Power Plan

Via Energy & Environment Publishing: Jean Chemnick, E&E reporter Foes of U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan are weighing the legal and political pros and cons of a “just say no” approach to the draft rule aimed at curbing heat-trapping greenhouse gases from power plants. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week urged states to not […]
10Mar

GOP’s ‘Just Say No’ Climate Strategy Stirs Doubts for EPA

Via Politico: By Erica Martinson Supporters of President Barack Obama’s climate regulations are getting worried EPA may have few tools to use if states decide to follow conservatives’ advice and refuse to cooperate with the agency on climate change regulations. Questions abound about how the agency would impose its own climate plans on behalf of […]