New EPA Rules to Cost Jobs, Tax Revenue

Living in the PACNW we have a unique advantage over most of the nation when it comes to energy generation. The vast majority (60%) of the electricity produced in our region comes from hydro-power. The rest comes from nuclear, coal, and fire-fired producers. In fact, the region generates so much power, that we can sell it to other parts of the country, like California and Nevada.

So when the idiots at the EPA pass rules that will impact electrical generation, we are not going to see the same degradation in service that much of the nation will see.

New Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules governing pollutants will certainly have an impact on power generation capability. The new rules propose that energy producers reduce certain pollutants by as much a 73% within the next year and half. Under these strict guidelines, may energy producers will not be able to met the deadlines or the requirements, forcing them to shut down operations. This is going to drive up energy prices, create blackout or brownout problems, and more than likely eliminate jobs.

In a blatant violation of states rights’ the EPA has taken energy production permitting authority from the state of Texas.

Two days before Christmas, EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendaria said in a letter that the agency was taking permitting authority over refineries, power plants and cement facilities in Texas from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) starting last Jan. 2. (Source: Investors)

I look at this as a double whammy and I wonder if the socialists in the Obama administration understand or even give a damn.

First of is the cost of jobs. Right now I have not seen any figures (other than in the linked article) on how many jobs will be lost, but bet the farm, jobs will be lost. It takes a real idiot to not see this. If an energy production plant closes were people are working, then once that plant closes, those jobs are gone. In the current state of the economy where unemployment sits at 9+% with little to no job growth, it only stands to reason that jobs will be lost that cannot be made up. Couple that with the reduced spending power in a given area (around the plant, generally in a more isolated region), then the factor only increases. Do the people like Lisa Jackson (EPA head) see this? Do they even care? Are their enviro-nazi visions so important to them that they are willing to sacrifice jobs on the altar of a clean environment? Ask this last question understanding that we already have some of the cleanest air we have had in many generations.

Second whammy is the revenue for the government at the local, state, and federal level. Energy is one of the more heavily taxed industries in the nation, both from the consumer and the producer standpoint (look at the taxes on your next electric or gas bill). If a plant gets shut down, there goes a source of revenue. You would think that a president who has generated more debt than are president in the past would be interested in at the very least keeping an already proven steady stream of tax dollars coming in

It really baffles the mind to think that in times of nearly stagnant job growth and a debt over $14 trillion that doing something that is going to eliminate both jobs and tax revenue that these new rules actually seem like a good idea.