No electricity for jobs with EPA’s looming blackouts

August 22, 2011 18:27


It’s called the Cross-State Pollution Rule, announced last month, and its implementation over the next 18 months will likely result in the loss of a fifth of the nation’s electricity-generating capacity. The result will be likely power shortages, skyrocketing rates and inevitable brownouts and rolling blackouts.

IBD Editorials

EXCERPTS:

It won’t matter which light bulbs we use as the administration’s implementation of cross-state pollution rules shuts down coal plants across the country. Where will the jobs be when the lights go out?

“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 spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said in an e-mailed statement.

The head of the Texas Public Utility Commission says the rules could lead to rolling blackouts. The American Legislative Exchange Council says that nationally the new regulations will cost up to $129 billion and force utilities to retire one-fifth of coal-generating capacity.

That may be a conservative estimate. You can’t really calculate the economic impact of possible rolling blackouts in an economy where GDP growth has virtually flatlined, the official unemployment rate hovers above 9% and investment has stalled.

While the administration focuses on job creation on the beaches and in the ice cream shops of Martha’s Vineyard, its rogue EPA considers job-creation hazardous to our health and pledges its dedication to having us breathe marginally cleaner air in the unemployment line.

FULL ARTICLE



Help Make A Difference By Sharing These Articles On Facebook, Twitter And Elsewhere:

Interested In Further Reading? Click Here