First Oil, then Nuclear, now Coal

Almost since the day he took office, president Obama has been talking about the need for energy independence through the use of alternative and renewable sources like wind and solar energy. The problem with these power sources, however, is that they are undependable (sometimes it is cloudy) and that they are much too expensive to work in the marketplace. That has not deterred Obama. Instead of switching our efforts for independence from Middle Eastern oil to developing abundant and inexpensive domestic energy sources like natural gas, Obama has taken step after step to drive up the cost of all energy so that solar and wind sources are no longer much more costly than other sources of power. The problem with this approach, of course, is that as American energy costs go higher, American industry is priced out of the world market, jobs are lost, and individuals face higher energy bills with less ability to pay for them.

The latest move by Obama to drive up energy costs is the new set of regulations proposed by the EPA for coal fired power plants. Coal is the fuel used to generate half of all US electric power. Here is how U.S NEWS described the new regulations:

"Two new EPA pollution regulations will slam the coal industry so hard that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost, and electric rates will skyrocket 11 percent to over 23 percent, according to a new study based on government data.
Overall, the rules aimed at making the air cleaner could cost the coal-fired power plant industry $180 billion".

Think of it! The EPA regs will cost $180 billion dollars in compliance expenses. These are not productive investments; there will be no new power sources that will result. There will be no new manufacturing plants that will result. Indeed, close to half of the cost will come as expenses to close plants that cannot be brought up to standards. This is more than $500 per person in the country that is being thrown down a rat hole as far as the economy is concerned.

How many industries that rely on electric power will easily accept a 20% increase in rates. The obvious answer is none. More plants will be priced out of the market and imports will take their place. All those people who lose their jobs will have Obama's new regulations to thank for this. In the current state of the US economy, how can it ever be justified to take a move that throws hundreds of thousands out of work?

It would be nice to think that this move will be stopped once the "adults" in Washington look at it and realize its impact. But that is a fantasy. There are no adults in the Obama administration. There are only ideologues.