Mr Obama: Killing Your Power Next

Because of new EPA rules regarding coal-fired electrical generation plants, it is anticipated that two things will occur:

1. Power prices will skyrocket and
2. Power supplies will range from rolling blackouts to complete blackouts

Already, Texas is addressing the issue due to the regulations which begin January 1st of 2012. From the DFW Star-Telegram:

The head of the Texas Public Utility Commission expressed concern Friday that a new federal air quality rule, set to take effect Jan. 1, will cause disruptions in electric service.

If implementation of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is not delayed, "I have no doubt in my mind that this rule will result in reliability issues and rolling outages in Texas," Donna Nelson said at the start of the commission's meeting.

In review, you of course recall the comments made by Mr Obama in 2008:

I was the first to call for a 100 percent auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter," Obama continued. "That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

"So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

Question for you: did we already vote "yes" on CapN Tax in Congress and I missed it?

Why, no, we didn't. This is simply the EPA acting on its own.

Further, from The Washington Post:

Industry groups such the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, and the American Legislative Exchange Council have dubbed the coming rules “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck.” The regulations, they say, will cost utilities up to $129 billion and force them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity. Given that coal provides 45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs. The doomsday scenario has alarmed Republicans in the House, who have been scrambling to block the measures. Environmental groups retort that the rules will bring sizeable public health benefits, and that industry groups have been exaggerating the costs of environmental regulations since they were first created.

I should care to point out that Texas has one of the more solid electrical generation grids in the nation. A state such as Fornicalia, which is an abortion of regulatory restrictions, will be further throttled. One has but to do what I call the Logical Extension:

At this point, anyone living in a dense population center such as LA, San Francisco, Sacramento, had best be prepared not just for a lack of power, but the resulting riots and looting from (no longer "minority) majority thugs.

But hey, in the midst of a second recent recession, whilst bordering on an actual Depression, it's the perfect time to both jack up electrical -- and hence, all -- energy rates and ensure an interruption of electrical power because Americans can so afford both of these things presently.

Is there any aspect of American life that Mr Obama simply doesn't want to eviscerate or kill?

Yes, one: the Good Life in DC.

Backslapping all around.

BZ

P.S.
And any American would even remotely consider giving the man another four years to further grind this country flatter still, under his political heels?