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EPA to double down on climate
Politico ^ | December 21, 2010 | Robin Bravender

Posted on 12/22/2010 1:20:53 PM PST by neverdem

The Obama administration is expected to roll out a major greenhouse gas policy for power plants and refineries as soon as Wednesday, signaling it won’t back off its push to fight climate change in the face of mounting opposition on Capitol Hill.

The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to a schedule for setting greenhouse gas emission limits, known as “performance standards,” for the nation’s two biggest carbon-emitting industries, POLITICO has learned.

Under the schedule agreed to by EPA, states and environmental groups, the agency will issue a draft greenhouse gas performance standard for power plants by July 2011 and a final rule by May 2012. The agreement – which comes after states and environmentalists challenged the George W. Bush administration’s failure to set the standards – requires EPA to issue a draft limit for refineries by Dec. 2011 and a final rule by Nov. 2012.

The White House Office of Management and Budget has signed off on the schedule, according to a litigant in the legal fight.

The standards are part of a series of climate rules from the Obama administration that have faced fierce opposition from industry groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And while the policies won’t go final for more than a year, the political ramifications will come immediately.

They will come as welcome news to environmentalists who want the administration to flex its regulatory muscle following the death of climate legislation this year, but EPA can expect its foes on the right to blast the move as another example of regulatory overreach.

GOP lawmakers slated to claim the gavels of powerful House committees next year have already vowed to launch probes into a host of EPA regulations – including the administration’s suite of climate change rules – arguing that the regulations will further damage the already ailing economy.

Starting Jan. 2, EPA will begin regulating large stationary sources of the heat-trapping emissions, but those requirements only apply to new and upgraded facilities and will be determined on a case-by-case basis, so it’s unclear how deeply they will slash emissions. The forthcoming standards would set industry-specific standards and could require some of the oldest, dirtiest facilities to clamp down on carbon dioxide.

The agreement doesn’t specify what type of requirements EPA will impose on the industries, but environmentalists say the rules have the potential to require substantial emission reductions in existing facilities while offering industry the type of regulatory certainty it’s been calling for.

EPA’s schedule could also likely impact a high-profile climate lawsuit pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case American Electric Power v. Connecticut, power companies are challenging a lower court ruling that allowed states and environmental groups to move ahead with a public nuisance lawsuit seeking to force the utilities to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama administration attorneys asked the court in August to vacate the appeals court's judgment, arguing that in part that EPA was already moving forward with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which undercut the need for nuisance lawsuits. The attorneys said EPA was “evaluating” whether to include greenhouse gases in performance standards.

States and environmental groups involved in the case argued that EPA’s evaluation wasn’t good enough because the agency hasn’t formally taken action to limit emissions from existing sources. However, they said their claims for relief under nuisance lawsuits would be displaced if such rules were finalized.

It’s unclear how EPA’s announced schedule will affect the Supreme Court case, which is expected to be argued before the rules go final.

EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said, "We have nothing to announce at this time. But as we have made clear any regulatory decisions will be guided by sound science and stakeholder input, and encourage deployment of clean technology, while cutting greenhouse gas pollution and providing certainty to key industries in this country."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agw; bho44; bhoepa; climatechange; epa; globalwarming
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1 posted on 12/22/2010 1:20:54 PM PST by neverdem
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To: steelyourfaith

Ping.


2 posted on 12/22/2010 1:23:18 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: neverdem

This is all about destroying Capitalism and has nothing to do whatsoever with the environment.


3 posted on 12/22/2010 1:23:25 PM PST by SatinDoll (NO FOREIGN NATIONALS AS OUR PRESIDENT!)
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To: neverdem

The EPA needs to be defunded and disbanded.


4 posted on 12/22/2010 1:23:38 PM PST by thethirddegree
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To: neverdem

Does not bode well for the Clean Coal Plant we’re trying to get running here in Healy, Alaska. It’s sitting in the EPA’s hands for decision right now.


5 posted on 12/22/2010 1:25:08 PM PST by vpintheak (Obama sez I'm an enemy and I will be punished. My Savior has overcome the world.)
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To: thethirddegree
The EPA needs to be defunded and disbanded.

The EPA and the Department of Education both would be a good start...

6 posted on 12/22/2010 1:28:00 PM PST by DBeers (†)
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To: neverdem

Hey America! How’s that hope and change workin’ for ya?


7 posted on 12/22/2010 1:31:32 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Merry Christmas to all of my FReeper FRiends!)
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To: thethirddegree

Amen! The incoming Republican House should shut these idiots down! Defund and defang the corrupt bastards!!


8 posted on 12/22/2010 1:31:50 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Nuke the corrupt commie bastards to HELL!!)
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To: neverdem

There are still a couple dozen jobs left in America. This should finish the job.


9 posted on 12/22/2010 1:33:09 PM PST by denydenydeny (Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak-Adams)
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To: DBeers

Another rogue agency creating law by policy , without authority from Congress. Yesterday the FCC and now the EPA. Obama adm did say they would use the executive branch and push through their agenda since they lost Congress. It's time to defund these agencies and impeach their heads until we get a better Congress and new President that can eliminate these agencies.


10 posted on 12/22/2010 1:35:22 PM PST by RED SOUTH
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To: neverdem

These people seem to be totally out of touch with the climate change going on outdoors.

YooHoo! We’re going into a mini-Ice Age (maybe even a major one)!!

For those of you at the EPA, that means more precipitation (rain/snow) and colder weather, NOT global warming.

There have been absolutely no sunspots for the last two days or so. This is important, you Marxist chowderheads.


11 posted on 12/22/2010 1:36:31 PM PST by patriciaruth (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993905/posts)
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To: neverdem
Watch out for the rope-a-dope...

The timing is almost perfect cover for their upcoming announcement regarding National Emission Standards for Hazardous Pollutants for coal fired utilities. If they do to utilities, what they proposed to do to industrial and institutional coal boilers they won't need GHG regs to shut down massive amounts coal capacity in the US...

12 posted on 12/22/2010 1:40:31 PM PST by !1776!
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To: Army Air Corps; meyer; Normandy; Whenifhow; TenthAmendmentChampion; Clive; scripter; Darnright; ...
Thanx Army Air Corps !

 


Beam me to Planet Gore !

13 posted on 12/22/2010 1:43:01 PM PST by steelyourfaith (ObamaCare Death Panels: a Final Solution to the looming Social Security crisis ?)
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To: neverdem
As Ronald Reagan used to say about Government:

If it moves tax it.

If it still moves regulate it.

If it stops moving subsidize it.

14 posted on 12/22/2010 1:43:57 PM PST by Mikey_1962 (Obama: The Affirmative Action President. He's shovel ready!)
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Thus it is that hundreds of expensively dressed academics and bureaucrats have gathered in the tottering narco-state of Mexico, in the beautiful, invidious environs of Cancun, where they will spend time desperately trying to resuscitate the rotting carcass of global warming. They will sing to it, using the power of "magick" incantations. They will call it "climate change" and other euphemisms in a desperate attempt to bring it back to life. It will remain obstinately moribund. (link)

15 posted on 12/22/2010 1:47:41 PM PST by Milhous (Lev 19:18 Love your neighbor as yourself.)
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To: neverdem

Laws made without the approval/disapproval of elected representatives in Congress.

So this is what a dictatorship is like


16 posted on 12/22/2010 1:50:59 PM PST by kidd
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To: DBeers

Don’t forget the Department of Energy.

Hell, I am starting to think we need to scrap the whole damn federal government and START OVER.

Now there is a START treaty I can live with.


17 posted on 12/22/2010 1:51:51 PM PST by Danae (Anail nathrach, orth' bhais's bethad, do chel denmha)
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To: !1776!

When I paid my electric bill yesterday about $263.00, approximately $54 of the bill was taxes, fees, and other fancy named costs.


18 posted on 12/22/2010 1:53:40 PM PST by raisincane (I must confess to Ecocide.....so come and get me, you UN climate hucksters.)
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To: !1776!

When I paid my electric bill yesterday about $263.00, approximately $54 of the bill was taxes, fees, and other fancy named costs.


19 posted on 12/22/2010 1:54:00 PM PST by raisincane (I must confess to Ecocide.....so come and get me, you UN climate hucksters.)
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To: thethirddegree
The EPA needs to be defunded and disbanded.

Along with a bunch of other federal agencies including the obsolete FCC and Education Department. It's not likely to happen though. Most Republicans are gutless in the face of a hostile liberal media and the disapproval of their Washington "colleagues."

My electricity bill has gone up over 150% in the last 2 years and Southern California Edison seems to be happily in bed with the environmentalists. I want to know who's benefiting from that profiteering.

20 posted on 12/22/2010 1:55:13 PM PST by Bernard Marx
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