Posted on 12/27/2010 12:41:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
And so it begins, and on the most fertile red-state territory in the nation. Texas, which got four more seats in the House through the 2010 Census reapportionment, has had its air-quality rules superceded by the EPA as part of its aggressive new action on carbon emissions. Governor Rick Perry promises a fight:
The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday effectively declared Texas unfit to regulate its owngreenhouse gas emissions and took over carbon dioxide permitting of any new or expanding industrial facilities starting Jan. 2.
The EPA also set up a framework for regulating greenhouse gas emissions in seven other states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Oregon and Wyoming. In addition, the agency set a timetable on establishing regulated levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
The action will give the EPA permitting authority over refineries, power plants and cement facilities in Texas, the agency said, but will not affect small pollution source facilities, such as restaurants and farms.
Well, perhaps not directly, but the increase in energy prices and shortages created by the EPA imposition of what will essentially be carbon taxes will impact businesses throughout the Texas economy, as well as consumers who ultimately pay the costs of the regulatory regime. Rick Perry has signaled a court fight to stop the EPA and the Obama administration:
Texas is the only state that has refused to implement the new rules. President Barack Obama is pressing ahead with the regulations after Congress failed to pass legislation capping carbon emissions. Perry, a Republican, calls the rules overreaching by the federal government that will cripple his state’s economy.
“The EPA’s misguided plan paints a huge target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy producers by implementing unnecessary, burdensome mandates on our state’s energy sector, threatening hundreds of thousands of Texas jobs and imposing increased living costs on Texas families,” Katherine Cesinger, a Perry spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement.
The timing is certainly interesting. The EPA made this move two days before Christmas, when most people had stopped paying attention to political news. The EPA’s move thus got missed by most of the national media, even though it demonstrates well the Obama strategy in 2011 to win through regulation what it could not win through legislation. And by focusing on Texas, where Republicans have a chance to redistrict with practically no interference from Democrats, the move will certainly incentivize the GOP to limit as much as possible the representation of Democrats in their Congressional delegation as the Republican-controlled House attempts to stymie the EPA’s regulatory innovation.
This also will vault Rick Perry to the highest level of national politics, even as he continues to insist that he won’t run for President. With a third term as governor in hand and a perfect political battle opening in front of him, though, the opportunity may be too much to resist for a man who could possibly unite conservatives and the GOP for a big run against a stumbling Obama in 2012.
I,m ready to let all my tax dollars go to the folks of Texas and tell DC to take a flying leap at a rolling donut and hope they hit it.
Secession.
> If they are co-equal, then two of the three ought to be
> able to over-rule the third.
Unfortunately, two of the three are predominantly statist.
The Executive and Judiciary are overwhelmingly statist.
The Congress, not much less so.
And they have the military with all its snoop prowess.
We are screwed.
> There are several big pipelines that run from those
> refineries up to the East Coast. You just turn off the
> flow. We find out REAL quick who needs who more.
I love it.
We live in the Northeast, but ...
We heat with wood, including our water.
We also have a wood cookstove.
We can generate our own electricity and pump our own water by hand.
I’m a telecommuter, so I don’t need to drive much.
We have months of provisions in store.
STARVE THE BEAST!
Right. As a last resort, secession from the Union would cause a cessation of federal government abuses in Texas. Something like that.
but, but what about the polar bears!?
I saw pictures of polar bears on floating ice!
“I wish ALL the STATES would stand up to Washington in this way...”
####
Should happen.
Won’t happen.
Yeah, not even in Texas.
Oh no! You are wrong.
My children told me that they learned that man made climate change is endangering polar bears.
They were told this was true by our local government union school teachers who are getting paid $60,000 for 10 months work to propagandize this lie.
Excuse me, I need to pollute, time to exhale.
Key line in your comment - “if he has the guts”
The EPA, FCC,FEC, FDA, dept of Energy, dept of education, need to be abolished for starters.
This is a dictatorship/socialism and is against freedom. Amazing that many idiots even on this forum defend this socialist gang of criminals running these government agencies called the FCC, EPA etc.
Bttt
Dude, you have Austin. Nuff said.
The US is no longer governed as a constitutional republic. It is functioning as a socialist police state run by fiat from corrupt elites.
Texas should just ignore the EPA and ban them from regulating the state. States can and should separate themselves from illegal federal action.
Wonder if passing nullification act(s) would suffice....
Great idea! This strategy worked for OPEC, Mexico and Chavez. Freeze them!
You can almost count on one hand the number of sheriffs, don’t include deputies, that have been prosecuted for anything in the last 50 years. The only one that vaguely comes to mind was in Virginia a couple of years ago.
>>Most sheriff’s get to much funding from the fedgov to bite the hand that feeds them.<<
That money is usually for holding illegal aliens in the county jails. Since the FEDS are slow in paying I wouldn’t be surprised that more than one would prefer to tell the FEDS to find another jail for the scum.
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