Government Study: EPA regulations on power plants may cost economy 1.4 trillion by 2040

The coal industry will be hardest hit...

Via Daily Caller:

If you’re unsure of what impacts pending EPA regulations will have on the U.S. coal industry, look no further than a new government study showing huge declines in coal production and use as power plant fuel.
More importantly, government forecasters predict the U.S. economy could take a $1.4 trillion hit by 2040 because of the EPA’s pending power plant regulations.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts the EPA’s “Clean Power Plan” will more than double projected coal-fired power plant retirements in the next five years, from 40 gigawatts to 90 gigawatts, and coal production could collapse more than 30 percent in the next decade.
“All major coal-producing regions (West, Interior, and Appalachia) experience negative production impacts in 2020,” EIA predicts in its report on the impacts of the EPA’s global warming rule. EIA also warns that electricity prices will increase faster due to EPA rules.
The EPA will soon finalize rules to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants. Agency rules governing existing power plants, the so-called “Clean Power Plan” (CPP) have garnered the most criticism.
CPP aims to reduce CO2 emissions from power plants 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Coal state lawmakers and the industry have heavily opposed the rule, saying it will cause massive amounts of job losses and cause energy prices to rise. EIA’s new report confirms at least some of these worries.
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Obama administration’s top environmental official who bragged about crucifying oil and gas companies resigns

President Obama is undoubtedly very sad about this turn of events, but his re-election must take precedent over everything.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration’s top environmental official in the oil-rich South and Southwest region has resigned after Republicans targeted him over remarks made two years ago when he used the word “crucify” to describe how he would go after companies violating environmental laws.

In a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson sent Sunday, Al Armendariz says he regrets his words and stresses that they do not reflect his work as administrator of the five-state region including Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Armendariz, who holds a doctorate in environmental engineering, apologized for his remarks last week. A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, told The Associated Press that he has since received death threats. His resignation was effective Monday, when he informed his senior staff.

“I have come to the conclusion that my continued service will distract you and the agency from its important work,” Armendariz wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Republicans in Congress had called for Armendariz’ firing, after Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe highlighted the May 2010 speech last week as proof of what he refers to as EPA’s assault on energy, particularly the technique of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Nanny State Alert: Obama administration wants to ban children from family farm chores

Having been raised on a small family farm, I can testify how asinine this proposal is. There is no better place to learn a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility than on a family farm. Instead of banning it, the government should encourage it. The problem with many young people today is they feel entitled to a free living off their parents or the government. You won't learn that on a family farm. On a family farm, everyone pulls their weight. The Obama administration hates that kind of self sufficiency and work ethic. They want Americans to be dependent on the government.

A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district member of Congress. But now it’s attracting barbs from farm kids themselves.

The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land.

Under the rules, children under 18 could no longer work “in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials.”

“Prohibited places of employment,” a Department press release read, “would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions.”

The new regulations, first proposed August 31 by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, would also revoke the government’s approval of safety training and certification taught by independent groups like 4-H and FFA, replacing them instead with a 90-hour federal government training course. Read more here...