On April 13, 2011, the EPA publishing its ruling that Texas must comply with the Clean Air Transport Rule (CATR). Using the CATR, the EPA is set to include Texas in the national sulfur dioxide program, without any comment from any of the state’s stakeholders, political leaders or industry leaders allowed. No public review, just bam!, Texans get the EPA jackboot. The EPA’s effort to strong arm Texas away from its successful and flexible state-level clean air program, established in the 1990s and which has enjoyed bipartisan support, and into the EPA’s less effective national program has been building since President Obama’s inauguration. The CATR ruling may bring that battle to a head.
As one might expect, the mostly Republican Texas Congressional delegation is very unhappy with the EPA’s actions. On June 16, it fired off a protest letter to Cass Sunstein, administrator of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the OMB. The letter notes the total lack of input the EPA gave the state of Texas, and further notes that the rule change is likely to cost the state billions of dollars while cutting electrical power that will be available to the state’s citizens and industry. After noting the rule’s many other inadequacies, the letter asks OMB to evaluate the EPA’s “seriously flawed” ruling. The letter, downloadable in PDF format here, is signed by the Republican members of Texas’ delegation to Congress. The Texas Democrats apparently took a pass.
It’s a rare moment when Republicans and unions agree on much, but as it turns out, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union agrees: The EPA is dangerously overreaching in its CATR finding. The IBEW also fired off a letter of protest on June 16, to Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Air and Regulation. The letter strongly protests the EPA’s failure to allow for any comment on the rule change, and expresses the IBEW’s concern that “including Texas in the final CATR for SO2 would result in significant increases in electricity rates, temporary or even permanent shutdown of existing coal-fired power plants, reduced capacity reserves and enormous job losses. This action would directly jeopardize the jobs of approximately 1,500 IBEW members working at six different power plants across the state of Texas.”
That Texas economic success story you’ve been hearing so much about in the news lately? The EPA’s actions here threaten it very directly, by increasing electricity costs while throwing thousands of Texans out of work. If the EPA wants Texas’ unemployment rate to climb up to the higher national average, this ruling may help that along.
White House chief of staff Bill Daley found himself confronted by angry manufacturers this past week, who were upset at the way the Obama administration keeps “throwing sand in the gears” of US industry. At one point, Daley is said to have thrown up his hands in exasperation and said:
“Sometimes you can’t defend the indefensible.”
Indeed. And thus far, this administration’s record on putting bureaucracy and ideology in the way of economic activity and recovery is truly indefensible.
ALSO READ: “Texas poll: Gov. Perry’s approval remains strong, but is his presidential support soft?”)
It’s the U.N. Agenda 21 issue that is driving this garbage. Enough already!
No, it’s Baraq’s hatred of being consistently shown up by Texas that’s driving this garbage.
We no longer have Rule Of Law. Instead, we have all of the administrative bodies actively working for nothing beyond Baraq’s re-election.
At what point does Texas simply say to Ms. Jackson “no, we will not do that”?
I’ve been saying this from the moment Sarah Palin stepped down as Governor of Alaska.
Now you see why she did it. She knew what was coming. If she had stayed on as Governor of Alaska, the Obama administration would have elevated the systematic regulatory destruction of the Alaskan economy to a primary mission of the administration, just like they are doing to Texas. Since she stepped down as Governor, the administration has largely left Alaska alone. But don’t think for a moment that if she was still Governor, that the Obama administration wouldn’t be pulling out all the stops to force the collapse and failure of the Alaskan state economy. It would be necessary, from their point of view, to “transform” Palin into a failed governor, and I think it’s about time that Palin be given the credit for taking the big red target off the back of Alaska, at great personal cost.
Hadn’t connected the dots like that. Wow.
but the ‘majority’ still voted for handouts..
socialists are the very definition of ingrate..
the difference between conservatives and liberals can be seen in this ruling and the letter – where is the Law suit that stops this in int’s tracks? Heck if an oil company said it would drill we ahve court actions, if a lumber company wants to cut a tree we have court actions – here we have a crappy little letter. No guts
At some point, lawsuits will not be enough. Somewhere along the way, some state will say no, others will join, and we will have a true, and necessary constitutional crisis.
After we get rid of Obama, Americans, we need to clean house in every bureaucratic agency in Washington.
Blame Congress. They are the ones who drafted CERCLA and related environmental legislation to give so much power to the EPA. The EPA should be defunded, and let its DOJ lawyers get involved only when the pollution involved (1) is the subject of a dispute between the states; (2) occurs on federal lands; and (3) is actually causing people direct, measurable harm (not this typical bs about how there is a “threat” of “release” of some contamination 2 miles away from a dwelling that EPA ususally does).
Texas has several large lignite coal power plants located near coal mines in East Texas. In the crazy world of the clean air act, these relatively dirty power plants were either grandfathered as is or forced to comply with current pollution standards and litigation uncertainty. No middle ground is allowed and new cleaner coal plants are blocked. As population has grown, air pollution is starting to be a problem in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. However, instead of letting Texas figure out the lowest cost way to reduce photochemical smog, the EPA and environmental groups seem determined to destroy capitalism. Lots of stupid rules that do little and cost a lot. Things like changing speed limit signs from 70 mph to 65 mph and forcing us to buy ethanol with our gasoline.
George,
I’m not calling you out on the pollution there, BUT, having worked with vehicle emission testing machines, the EPA, and all the connected laws and issues, the air EVERYWHERE in the US is cleaner than it was 25 years ago. And it’s not my opinion, it’s EPAs own numbers that say so.
I live on the Mid-Atlantic, and I was in the vehicle emission industry when it was mandated that we get on board or lose our federal highway funds. Our population here has tripled, but you can quite literally see the air is cleaner. And, again, look at the EPA numbers.
You’ve obviously got a computer, look up the air quality numbers for 1980, and NOW for your area.
Schteveo, not sure if ground level ozone is getting better or worse in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The population has grown to 6.4 million people and the air is pretty bad in the summer on the handful of days when the wind quits blowing. Bad enough so you can see a brown bowl of smog over the area as you fly in. The rest of the year the air is reasonably good. Smart regulations would allow new cleaner coal power plants to be built downwind from the city. Smart regulations would deal with the pollution problem on smog alert days. Instead the EPA uses those noncompliance days to justify expensive ineffective one-size-fits-all regulations. The previous more flexible system set federal air quality standards, but let state and local governments come up with a plan to meet those standards.
I believe it was Andrew Jackson who was quoted (falsely) as saying “John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.” While it may be another invented quotation with respect to Worcester vs Georgia, it applies to the EPA regulations quite well.
Does this mean we Texans can get some new nuke plants instead?
The answer should be yes but with the Obama being pro-nuke, don’t the NRC (Nuclear RESTRAINING Commission) to be of much help. They’ve already stated that they have a 42-month backlog on just the application for licenses (that’s not counting the building permits).
Just so people will realize, this isn’t only happening in Texas and other Red States. The EPA is putting the screws to coal-fired plants all over the nation. Illinois has recently announced that it will closed down coal-fire plants as has TVA (at least TVA has permission to restart construction on a mothballed nuke plant).
Another example of what Michael Barone calls “gangster government”. Tactically, it’s a knee-capping of Texas to tell it to hew the line and stop embarrassing the Blue states. Strategically, it’s a black hand to a governor who may choose to run against Obama in 2012.
What are all you people worried about? Didn’t you read above that the Texas congressional delegation has protested to Cass Sunstein? Help is on the way!
I suggest texas ignore the EPA at this point. If we don’t it will destroy us.
At some point, the Governors need to get together and just say they are going to ignore federal cabinet directives, period. One State cannot do it alone. It will require 34, Constitutional Convention numbers. With tho0se numbers, they can tell Obama to stick it in his ear. With 38, they can just agree to throw him out of office with a Constitutional Convention gathered solely for that purpose.
It is time to stop waiting for Nov ’12.
Amen.
I wish your suggestion comes true.. but the Original 13th Amendment precedent has already happened.. Civil War.. One State away from ratification, then War..
makes me wonder..
Then lets have war…secession is the only answer.
Amen! As a Texan, I have had it up to my ears with this administration and their goofy regulations. Time to react as so many states did to the Health Care laws – band together and file lawsuits or just ignore them!
They’ve been hounding us down here for the last two years. The most recent idiocy is the dune lizard and a snail found in aquifer recharge basins, which they hope to parley into a shutdown of the biggest oil boom since the 80′s–after all, Texas sticks out like a sore thumb when the rest of the US is sucking hind tit in Obama’s managed economy. These ideologues need to be thrown from the government post haste. Their lone concern is “equalizing” society by reducing everything to the lowest common denominator where their warning is “Don’t do too well or we’ll come after you.” They are a threat to our country, our economy, and our way of life. In earlier days, they’d be strung up as traitors. Just throwing them out of government and forcing them to have to earn an honest living like the rest of us will have to do in these “gentler” times.
So, by implication Mr. Daley is saying that sometimes you CAN defend the indefensible?
He oughta know…
New regulations without public comment?. Sorry, that’s in violation of EPAs enabling statutes and arguably renders any such regulations null and void.
It is correct that there is by law to be a period for public comments on new regulation. The EPA is disregarding this requirement. Why? Think about it.
The letter to Cass Sunstein was a necessary first step, prior to any legal action. That can occur only after the law is in effect. Will the Justice Department grant an injunction?
Nope, they strictly toe the line for Obama.
That leaves the courts. How long does that process take? Well into the next administration. If Obama wins that, he’s got his regulatory frameworks in place.
There is no reason not at this time to barrel full steam forward.
If Obama loses the next election, then rebuilding the economy will be that much harder by way of the mess left by actions like this.
The Feds are doing similar to Alaska oil drilling by approving the drilling permits, but delaying road, bridge, and pipeline permits.
Once you realize this is a corrupt regime everything falls into place.
Ignore the EPA. You know it’s not Constitutional for them to do this. There are the abusers and then there are those who allow the abuse. Don’t allow it. What are they going to do about it.
The EPA needs to be abolished. Now we see what happens when these unconstitutional agencies end up in the wrong hands. Just like the TSA, Department of Education and others. They are now agencies abusing American citizens. Just ignore the EPA. Writing them letters is just giving the power to them. Take it out of their hands. Say NO!
It’s far past time that we simply said “no” to Washington on a lot of it’s stupidity. If many states simply started saying no to the nonsense coming out of D.C., we’d be better off
Interesting. So, the EPA, under close Obama advisor Cass Sunstein, is taking steps to shatter the Texas economy at the same time that Texas Governor Rick Perry is exploring a run for the presidency — a run that would almost certainly highlight the “Texas Miracle” of comparatively low unemployment, low cost of living, low housing costs and low depreciation of residential real estate values in comparison with the rest of the country. I’m not a tinfoil conspiracist type, but it seems to me that this is more than a mere “coincidence.”