Posted on 06/02/2014 1:53:51 PM PDT by PoloSec
In 2008, Barack Obama said his energy plan would cause electricity prices to “necessarily skyrocket.” The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest power plant regulations seem designed to do just that.
The EPA’s own regulatory analysis of its rule to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants says it will hike retail electricity by as much as 6.5 percent by 2020 — all while forcing 19 percent of the U.S. coal-fired capacity to shutdown and decreasing coal production by up to 28 percent.
“Under the provisions of this rule, EPA projects that approximately 46 to 49 GW of additional coal-fired generation (about 19% of all coal-fired capacity and 4.6% of total generation capacity in 2020) may be removed from operation by 2020,” the EPA says in its regulatory impact analysis of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan.
The decrease in coal-fired power will also cause natural gas prices to rise up to 11.5 percent as an additional 1.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is used to make up for the lack of coal power in 2020.
“Average retail electricity prices are projected to increase in the contiguous U.S. by 5.9% to 6.5% in 2020,” the agency reported. Prices will have increased by about 3 percent by 2030, the agency added. But the EPA added that electricity prices will fall by nine percent after 2030 because of lower energy demand and increased energy efficiency further cuts consumption.
Despite the energy price increases, the Obama administration and its environmentalist allies have hailed the regulation as a major step in tackling global warming and improving public health.
“The EPA’s proposal to limit carbon pollution from power plants for the first time ever is a giant leap forward in protecting the health of all Americans and future generations,” Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
The NRDC released a study last week arguing the EPA’s power plant rule would save Americans $37.4 billion on their electric bills in 2020 and create 274,000 jobs — a much more optimistic prediction than even the EPA put forward.
But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reportedthat EPA’s power plant rule would increase peoples’ energy costs by $17 billion per year. In total, the EPA rule would cost the U.S. economy $50 billion annually and kill 224,000 jobs per year.
Previous EPA regulations have already set the stage for skyrocketing electricity prices. The Mercury Air Toxics Standard (MATS), which comes in full effect in 2016, has already been predicted to force many coal plants to shut down and help drive up electricity costs.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says “low natural gas prices and slower growth of electricity demand” have hurt coal’s competitiveness as a power source. But a major reason why coal plants are shutting down is because they “must comply with requirements of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and other environmental regulations.”
Closing coal plants will drive up natural gas prices by 150 percent over 2012 levels by 2040, this cost rise will cause electricity prices to jump seven percent by 2025 and 22 percent by 2040. EIA does not predict power prices declining after 2030 due to lower demand and increased energy efficiency.
EIA notes that “because natural gas prices are a key determinant of wholesale electricity prices, which in turn are a significant component of retail electricity prices. Accordingly, the cases with the highest delivered natural gas prices also show the highest retail electricity prices.”
EPA estimates the power plant rule to cost more than $7 billion in 2020 and nearly $9 billion in 2030, but will deliver $93 billion in “climate and public health benefits”.
Even with the ostensibly huge benefits of the rule, Republicans some Democrats have come out against it, saying it’s a backdoor energy tax on Americans.
“Make no mistake, the administration’s proposed rule is nothing more than a national energy tax that will be yet another sucker punch to middle-class families struggling to get by in the Obama economy,” said South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune.
“These regulations, which will increase electricity costs, will especially hurt low-income families and seniors who live on fixed incomes and already devote a large share of their income to electricity bills,” Thune said. “In addition to hurting families, the regulations will destroy jobs, while essentially doing nothing to improve our global environment. The president’s proposed regulations are lose-lose-lose.”
And we need this lunatic government for what exactly?
ObamaAir
Can I just observe that, before we put draconian rules in place, shouldn’t we do a cost/benefit analysis of the impacts?
For example, skyrocketing utility bills will impact the entire economy. All of us, residential and business users, will see costs escalate.
And by cutting down electric capacity, it would not be out of the realm of possibility to see rolling blackouts or brownouts.
Are we so beholden to worship at the altar of global warming, that we just don’t consider these impacts of proposed policies? Is Obama so liberal that he just doesn’t give a blank? Does he want to go down in history as the global warming president, the homosexual marriage president, the socialized medicine president? And nothing else matters as long as he can score brownie points with liberals?????
Since these figures come from the owebama regime one can safely square the numbers to come to a reasonable estimate of how much this will cost the citizens.
When unelected officials fall prey or otherwise to chasing vapours in the air for the profit of a few, then what particular good is it to anyone save those few? NO matter how noble the cause , sometimes folks get carried away with their models and from reality.
I don’t think this is about scoring brownie points with the libs. They are useful idiots. baraq is working to bring this country to it’s knees.
Would he be doing anything different if his stated goal was to destroy this country?
I’m in Tallahassee with two universities and city, county, state and federal governments. I don’t think there’s been a Republican in office since reconstruction. When the local city owned power utility was going to invest in a new, distant coal plant in exchange for significantly lower power rates the liberals went insane...totally nuts. You’d have thought the world was ending. They defeated the ballot initiative (which should never have occurred if our elected officials hadn’t punted). So, now our electric rates are sky-high. The plant was still built. But we get no advantage from it. I’m honking mad.
But the insane, crazy liberal reaction to coal power plants (which are so clean you can breathe from the waste stack) is indicative of who is running the EPA.
On the good side, I bought coal stocks which had been hammered. They’re starting to recover as we are now selling coal to the rest of the world, which will reap the advantage of cheap energy.
So all the Senior Citizens will have to choose between buying food, medicine or paying the electric bill.
What about this ABC quote??
They have been showing video of these EVIL coal plants all day and the air around them is Crystal Clear ,D’oh
Only those in the lower and middle classes will have to make that choice, the elites won’t.
Green is an appropriate color for this movement as only the elites can afford it. The rest of us, not so much.
end alphabet agencies. end ALL of them now.
Already been done, no doubt.
Which is why the Sharia Communist in Chief and his minions are toiling to emplace this crap.
‘Would he be doing anything different if his stated goal was to destroy this country?’
Nope.
“The EPA’s own regulatory analysis of its rule to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants says it will hike retail electricity by as much as 6.5 percent by 2020”
In other words, look for a 25 to 40% hike or more in rates.
Great, higher energy prices and a depressed economy. Oh I have a thought, let’s expand government programs to assist people - like HEAP.
Big government getting bigger - that’s liberalism at work.
Interesting as I was wondering why we couldn’t export coal for profit while producing our own natural gas. Given the latest on the Permian Basin, the supply of gas need not be a problem for many years. Then there are the offshore opportunities.
Why start and why bother, the excuse for a President is running his uneducated and tyrannical mouth again. Remaining comments self censored.
I wonder no more about the evil that awaits when those with a me me me attitude, are able to vote for the evil they desire. Regardless of what that might be, it is the righteous majority that pay the price and suffer with eyes that see, ears that hear, and lips that speak the truth though few desire to listen. God help us, but then he expects us to carry the load, especially when we recognize the problem. The end will be glorious but it will be Hell getting there.
Correct on the low side I suspect. The next cheapest fuel for powerplants is DOUBLE the cost of a coal fired power plant. That’s out west where things might still be somewhat inexpensive.
Calling what is happening, anything but INSANITY, would be insane.
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