Good news: EPA set to shackle economy with ruling on global warming
posted at 3:20 pm on March 23, 2009 by Allahpundit
First come the new regulations on corporate pay, then comes onerous litigation to force emissions compliance. All we need now is a monster tax hike and then we’ll really have this economy humming.
Sometimes I get the feeling that recovery isn’t quite the paramount priority for the left that they claim it is. Paranoid, I know.
“This is historic news,” said Frank O’Donnell, who heads the public watchdog group Clean Air Watch. “It will set the stage for the first-ever national limits on global warming pollution. And it is likely to help light a fire under Congress to get moving.”
But business groups decried the move as an economic disaster.
“By moving forward with the endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, EPA is putting in motion a set of decisions that may have far-reaching unintended consequences,” said Bill Kovacs, vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Specifically, once the finding is made, no matter how limited, some environmental groups will sue to make sure it is applied to all aspects of the Clean Air Act.
“This will mean that all infrastructure projects, including those under the president’s stimulus initiative, will be subject to environmental review for greenhouse gases. Since not one of the projects has been subjected to that review, it is possible that the projects under the stimulus initiative will cease. This will be devastating to the economy.”
Will The One press ahead with this to satisfy the greens or put it on the backburner until GDP is growing again? Prioritization hasn’t been his strong suit thus far. Exit question: Anyone been to Costa Rica?
Blowback
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Awesome. Throw us off the cliff Barry.
Theworldisnotenough on March 23, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Bend over. Green is coming.
HornetSting on March 23, 2009 at 3:22 PM
I trust that Sherrif Joe will prevent that from happening. He knows how important the stimulus projects are and nobody messes with him.
myrenovations on March 23, 2009 at 3:23 PM
No no, it’s cool. Barry will go on Rachel Ray to let us know that he’s got it under control, and then bake a sweet quiche.
Ferris on March 23, 2009 at 3:24 PM
I’ve been thinking the same thing for quite a while now. Shouldn’t the priority be staying afloat? If a business can manage that, isn’t that good enough for now?
radiofreevillage on March 23, 2009 at 3:24 PM
And don’t forget about the impending EPA regulations on dust on farms.
Get ready for Khmer Rouge style communism.
rbj on March 23, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Does that mean we can also tax Congress?
Snowed In on March 23, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Why do we even have an EPA? Any regulation that attempts to protect the environment in any way is obviously counterproductive and borderline sinister…why do we still have one?
/sarc
ernesto on March 23, 2009 at 3:26 PM
How much am I going to be taxed now that the Volcano exploded?
upinak on March 23, 2009 at 3:26 PM
I wonder if it will go off how many mili or centi meters of dust/ash I get? Or will it go off the amount of ash/dust int he air.
WOO HOO, let the taxing of AIR begin!
upinak on March 23, 2009 at 3:27 PM
LOL.
You know you are probably right. If not Rachel Ray it will be Oprah, or Ellen, or the View.
Theworldisnotenough on March 23, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Taxing a nation into oblivion over a unproven theory? Passing legislation that spends our great-grandchildren’s money? Sending people out to make you sign a pledge of allegiance to a clueless leader? I want my country back.
kingsjester on March 23, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Because Nixon loved regulation.
myrenovations on March 23, 2009 at 3:27 PM
So gov’t pronouncements define reality. Why don’t they be more useful and pronounce the invention of transporters, warp drives, and hot alien babes?
Weebork on March 23, 2009 at 3:28 PM
ernesto on March 23, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Stop polluting us by breathing out CO2.
TexasJew on March 23, 2009 at 3:28 PM
WOW. Stunningly blatant power grabs on multiple fronts.
marklmail on March 23, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Hard not to think that after Rahm made the comment about not letting a crisis go to waste. The worse the economy, the easier it is for them to justify taking over huge swaths of it. That’s another way to say what Rahm said. So there’s nothing paranoid about wondering if prolonging the crisis isn’t to Obama’s benefit.
ProfessorMiao on March 23, 2009 at 3:29 PM
If you ever go to a place of ill-repute, never ask for ‘The Obama’ or ‘The Full Global Warming Treatment’.
Hard telling what you will get….
…but it ain’t good.
cntrlfrk on March 23, 2009 at 3:30 PM
upinak
Here’s the Volcano’s website:
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webicorders/Redoubt/NCT_EHZ_AV.php
Have the EPA file a “Cease and Desist”
TexasJew on March 23, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Next step, agrarian reform.
whitetop on March 23, 2009 at 3:30 PM
You’d be more effective if you didn’t engage in strawmen all the time.
lorien1973 on March 23, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Few of those projects will help the economy anyway. I can’t see how making them wait can hurt anything. Actaully, it could give us enough time to elect a new congress with a mandate to roll back this farce before it gets too far.
FuriousAmerican on March 23, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Im sure you hated the idea of seatbelt requirements too.
ernesto on March 23, 2009 at 3:31 PM
LOL I wish… it is still… spewing like a liberal!
upinak on March 23, 2009 at 3:32 PM
The word for the left isn’t recovery, it will be emerge, as in we will emerge as a new socialist economy. Hopefully some sane people will be able to abort that emergence while there’s still time.
kirkill on March 23, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Obama= The simultaneous application of antagonistic forces.
Lincoln Cadillac on March 23, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Well.
Smack me upside the head. Ruling that climate change is endangering us is actually a good thing !?!?! (sarcasm intended).
Since we know Obama isn’t likely to pay us tax credits to offset the price increases that come to us consumers from this boondoggle, I guess I have to conclude that either we all become poorer, or lots of small and medium sized businesses will go out of business.
See, the greens want all of us to live off the land, participate in a socialistic or communistic system, and not have any free capital markets. That’s been their goal from Day 1. Any other distillation of the situation misses the mark widely. They latched onto this climate change issue as a means to make that happen.
Every bit of climate change research has been disputed and disproven. The earth’s magnetic poles are weakening and shifting, as happens once every 1000 years or so. Sunspot activity is practically zero now. Also, we’re at the end of a gap between ice ages. No one will discuss these things. Until they do, and admit these other things could have an impact, then please. Spare us and go back to your trees!
mngander92 on March 23, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Of course he will throw in a few jokes at the expense of the disabled and have a couple of chuckles about the suffering of the American people.
msmveritas on March 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Requirement? Yes.
myrenovations on March 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM
I question the word ‘unintended’ in that sentence.
Vashta.Nerada on March 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM
These guys can’t coordinate policy worth a damn. It’s like the Special Olympics, or something…
gridlock2 on March 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM
My guess is that they are going to round up all the intellectuals and capitalists and force them to do hand labor on farms, in order to replace all of the farm equipment the greenies will no longer allow us to use.
MarkTheGreat on March 23, 2009 at 3:35 PM
GLOBAL WARMING IS A SCAM IN ORDER TO BRING IN THE NEW CARBON TAX!!!!!!
Constitution1st on March 23, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Welcome to the party!
-Dave
Dave R. on March 23, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Yep, because it’s not the job of the Federal Government to treat us all like infants. Now look, all these ignorant fools that lived because they wore their seatbelts have elected the biggest nannies evah. /semi-sarc
kirkill on March 23, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Don’t you mean a disproven theory?
MarkTheGreat on March 23, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Most cars already had seat belts, and all cars came with seatbelts as an option.
Anyone who wanted a seatbelt, could get one.
MarkTheGreat on March 23, 2009 at 3:38 PM
BOHICA(Bend over here it comes again)- the official motto of the Obot Admin.
gsherin on March 23, 2009 at 3:39 PM
I like the TV program ‘International House Hunters’. They find homes around the globe for USA would be ex-pats. Used to be mostly vacation homes, but lately most of them seem to be permanent re-settlements. The Caribbean islands seem to be the most popular.
jeanie on March 23, 2009 at 3:39 PM
This is just more evidence of Obama’s war on capitalism. He’s throwing everything, including the kitchen sink with the goal of destroying our economy and pushing us into socialism/communism.
This is not incompetence. This is enemy action.
Iblis on March 23, 2009 at 3:40 PM
More like dark and cold.
Oldnuke on March 23, 2009 at 3:41 PM
If by intellectuals you mean Al Gore, Dr. Hansen, the IPCC, et al, good idea.
WashJeff on March 23, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Anyone else remember the chaos caused by the govt requirement of seat belt interlocks?
I knew a number of mechanics who made a good living by disconnecting those things. (Off the books of course.)
MarkTheGreat on March 23, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Costa Rica, I was there just last year, seemed nice enough, a lot more poverty overall than in America though. Nothing a few trillion couldn’t fix though.
kirkill on March 23, 2009 at 3:42 PM
MarkTheGreat on March 23, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Either/or. There is no proof and their claims have been debunked over and over again. That’s why Gore is going to ban the MSM from his presentations.
kingsjester on March 23, 2009 at 3:43 PM
I wish the politicians would create a law to force me to put a helmet on my son when he learning to ride a bike. Without a law in place I do not know what to do.
WashJeff on March 23, 2009 at 3:44 PM
In other news, been to Detroit lately?
kirkill on March 23, 2009 at 3:44 PM
It’s been proven that wearing a seatbelt saves lives.
Patrick S on March 23, 2009 at 3:44 PM
Pelosi thinks Natrual gas is not a fossil fuel. Barry things solar panels are more efficient at night.
seven on March 23, 2009 at 3:45 PM
EPA Calls CO2 a Threat to Public :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123782773702215781.html
Every member of the public produces CO2 with every breath.
Soon they will be taxing us for each breath we exhale.
The only exception will be the government. You can’t exhale when you CONTINUOUSLY SUCK.
LegendHasIt on March 23, 2009 at 3:47 PM
Will somebody PLEASE put some adults in charge!!
AZ_Mike on March 23, 2009 at 3:48 PM
That would be a good law.
I had to wait for lawyers to sue the hell out of manufactuers so that I could finally find out that using the hair dryer in the the shower could kill me.
myrenovations on March 23, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Yeah, but they’ll only be taking the unarmed ones :-)
Oldnuke on March 23, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Should everything that is good for you be made mandatory?
MarkTheGreat on March 23, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Justice Kennedy’s Ivy League law clerks brought him a cup of Goreball Worming Kool-Aid, and he drank it. 5-4 decision that gave rise to this, as I recall.
Wethal on March 23, 2009 at 3:49 PM
A common characteristic of liberal policies.
backwoods conservative on March 23, 2009 at 3:49 PM
more evidence of a weaponized tax code.
moxie_neanderthal on March 23, 2009 at 3:50 PM
Actually my brother has been looking at property in Costa Rica and Mexico for years. Started looking when he realized his retirement wasn’t going to let him live comfortably here in the US, but said he could live like a king down there. Course, he works for the airlines and they’ve cut back and laid off a few times so the property purchase has been postponed.
scalleywag on March 23, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Run for your lives…
Obama Green is Jobless People!
econavenger on March 23, 2009 at 3:55 PM
One way to slow down all the “shovel ready” stimulus pork proejcts would be to file lawsuits asking for an environmental impact study to be done first. Take a leaf from the lefty manual.
Wethal on March 23, 2009 at 3:56 PM
Just think…you could change your name to the way cooler…GreenHornet.
Dude, why don’t you take that controlling passion and help Mexico, China, and India clean their filthy countries up. They have pollution problems to excess; they’re endangering the health of their people. I don’t hear anyone talking about that; no, they just want to shake down the fat Americans. Find another excuse to turn our pockets inside out. Crock.
austinnelly on March 23, 2009 at 4:00 PM
I think that’s a rather absurd cliché , given the context.
apostic on March 23, 2009 at 4:00 PM
One way to remove stupid people from the gene pool was eliminated.
lorien1973 on March 23, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Any architects here? I would love to know what the increased costs are to build a “green” office building vs. a traditional building. The upgraded equipment to meet EPA standards has got to be exhorbitant, let alone the products needed for water and energy effficiency. And if it’s a stimulus project, won’t it be union labor rates rather than market rates? No wonder the Bureau of Indian Affairs is going to cost $525M to the taxpayers.
sherry on March 23, 2009 at 4:06 PM
So unless we spend trillions of dollars on shovel-ready projects without wasting time actually thinking about each one, the economy will collapse and civilization will end, but on the other hand we’ll first have to prove that each project will not release carbon into the atmosphere. As the later is impossible, I guess the former is impossible also. So why spend the money?
Fred 2 on March 23, 2009 at 4:07 PM
To note just for reference: Man made global warming isn’t even a theory, it’s a hypothesis. You need a lot of work to make it up to the level of theory.
Weebork on March 23, 2009 at 4:08 PM
Because Nixon hoped he could appease some democrats, and gain a little peace by giving the democrats something they wanted; price controls, epa, osha. It worked well, didn’t it?
Skandia Recluse on March 23, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Very good.
myrenovations on March 23, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Nixon liked those price controls too. Some of his policies were meant to buy off the Democrats and make them like him, but he was a regulation and control freak too.
myrenovations on March 23, 2009 at 4:13 PM
If a hypothesis is an ‘educated guess’, I think we are still out in W.A.G. territory.
cntrlfrk on March 23, 2009 at 4:16 PM
The goal is to control the masses in every Orwellian way possible.
…and people will be surprised. That is the greatest shame.
Grafted on March 23, 2009 at 4:17 PM
It’s not about the environment, although there are some believers in the secular religion of the Goddess Gaia in the Dems.
It’s about increasing intrusion of government into more of American life – control of natural resources, regulation of businesses control of transportation, limitationson use of private property, etc. Making government bigger whereever they can. That’s the goal.
Wethal on March 23, 2009 at 4:17 PM
From Inhofe’s blog of the Senate Committee of Environment & Public Works:
Prominent Scientist Tells Congress: Earth in ‘CO2 Famine’
INC on March 23, 2009 at 4:19 PM
hmm..didnt I hear that the eruption of the volcano will cause next winter to be colder?
Look at the pollutants that nasty volcano spewed out!!
So what in the world is the EPA gonna do about that volcano? Fine it?
becki51758 on March 23, 2009 at 4:21 PM
“The goal is to control the masses in every Orwellian way possible.
…and people will be surprised. That is the greatest shame.
Grafted on March 23, 2009 at 4:17 PM”
*
It’s tragic. The lunatics are running the asylum.
marklmail on March 23, 2009 at 4:24 PM
That sounds suspiciously like sarcasm, and will be reported!
tom on March 23, 2009 at 4:27 PM
I can’t begin to express the revulsion I feel for these ideological diphthongs. They spread their ignorance like a disease. They really need to get back on the short bus imo.
/Mini-rant over
Itchee Dryback on March 23, 2009 at 4:27 PM
How even the most faithful of the Global Warming flock would not be, at the very least, questioning their faith by now, given that we never really did have much global warming at all and have been, if anything, in a cooling trend for the last ten years, is truly amazing. Even Mother Teresa is reported to have questioned her faith on a few occasions. Didn’t even Jesus question his once?
Al Goracle must be the envy of all the other gods.
OR Al Goracle is the god who least favors subjects capable of reason.
MB4 on March 23, 2009 at 4:28 PM
Yeah – Been there several times, one of the 38 countries I have visited.
.
It’s top of my list for retirement location. Made the recommendation to a multi-millionaire acquaintenance and he bought the entire top floor of a condominium building under construction, with a view of the Pacific. Best to get there before it gets too crowded.
News2Use on March 23, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Should we read that as “The One” or “The One press”?
HotWeaver on March 23, 2009 at 4:31 PM
And in the meantime, all the environmental regulation lawsuits will keep many lawyers fully employed — so at least somebody’s getting “stimulated.”
AZCoyote on March 23, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Coming up! Exemptions for businesses that either
A) Are doing stimulus projects
B) Are patriotic, Blue Eagle corporations
Why bother legislating Card Check, when you can get businesses to voluntarily do it to show how patriotic they are?
apollyonbob on March 23, 2009 at 4:38 PM
This is truly like something out of the Dark Ages.
This will mean that all castle, road and bridge projects, including those under the king’s stimulus initiative, will be subject to priestly spiritual review for demons and witches.
MB4 on March 23, 2009 at 4:40 PM
Same can be said for exercising regularly and eating a healthy, low-calorie diet. So shouldn’t the government pass a law requiring that everybody do that too?
AZCoyote on March 23, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Some real bad $hit is going to happen sooner than I thought.
cjs1943 on March 23, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Not at all, my dear Allah, not at all.
Buy Danish on March 23, 2009 at 4:47 PM
I’m done. The twittering, the constant site checks, watching the news, reading the paper…I’m done. I’m done with this whole sink hole of a time waster that leads to naught. I’m going back to enjoying the outdoors, playing video games, and being blissful in the ignorance that comes from no longer caring. I’ll know when the worlds ends, when it ends. Later.
kagai on March 23, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Eating healthy usually involves a lot more fiber. A lot more fiber will definitely increase greenhouse gas pollution.
We need a rectal emissions tax!
Tennman on March 23, 2009 at 4:48 PM
“What’s this?” thought Barack Obama. “I can feel nothing warmer at all! That is terrible. Am I stupid? Am I a flat-earther? Am I a denier? Am I not fit to be President? That would be the most dreadful thing that could happen to me. “Oh, it is very hot!” Obama said aloud. “It has my highest approbation.” And Obama nodded in a contented way, and gazed outside, for he would not say that he felt no Global Warming. The whole entourage that he had with him looked and looked, and felt no warming, any more than the rest; but, like Barack Obama they said, “It is so hot!” and Rahm Emanuel counseled him to always say that he felt hot when he was out in public, even hotter than all the economic and foreign policy troubles were making them both feel. “It is warm, hot even!” went from mouth to mouth. On all sides there seemed to be general warming, and Barack Obama gave Al Gore the title of Imperial Master of Global Warming Science.
So Barack Obama went in procession, and every one in the streets said, “How incomparable hot it is! What a hot day it is!” No one would let it be perceived that he could not feel warming, for that would have shown that he was not fit for his office, or was very stupid or a flat-earther or a denier. No day of Barack Obama’s had ever been as hot as this one.
“But I’m freezing my ass off out here!” a little child cried out at last. “Just hear what that innocent says!” said the father: and one whispered to another what the child had said. “But it is cold out here!” said the whole people at length. That touched Barack Obama, for it seemed to him that they were right; but the thought within himself was, “I must go through with feeling all the Global Warming. I do not dare to do otherwise” And so he held hims teleprompter a little tighter, and his aides held on tighter than ever, and proclaimed the Global Warming which did not exist at all.
MB4 on March 23, 2009 at 4:51 PM
If the dems taught us anything over the last few years, it’s that you have to have an exit strategy. I don’t know about Costa Rica, but I’ll be looking to India.
renasoncegent on March 23, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Good point! It’s a well-known scientific fact that dust and ash from volcanic eruptions cause temporary global COOLING by partially blocking sunlight, until the dust and ash settle to earth, which can take a few years.
So now we need some scientists to tell the EPA that, thanks to the volcano, we don’t have to worry about global warming for a few years. Maybe enough time to get a Republican House to repeal the ruling and declare that CO2 is not a pollutant.
Steve Z on March 23, 2009 at 5:18 PM
As applies to the sub-headline of this blog post: This would be my second Sammy Hagar reference at Hot Air in a day, but here goes:
Except, Gas is a leading contributor to Climate Change, so that ends that thought…
Sounds like an episode of Star Wars: The Carbon Wars.
Hey look at those pretty flowers over there…
juanito on March 23, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Exercising regularly and eating a low-calorie diet also enables a person to use a shorter seat belt. A double win here!
Steve Z on March 23, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Boy, I sure am glad we have returned to science instead of all that dogma running national policy!
rockmom on March 23, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Every day I am re-astounded by these guys.
PattyJ on March 23, 2009 at 5:21 PM
It takes a special kind of idiocy to believe that the weather is influenced more by a trace molecule comprising 3.5 one hundredths of one percent of the earth’s atmosphere rather than the source of heat in our universe.
Basilsbest on March 23, 2009 at 5:22 PM
That’s not entirely true. Regulations against excessive emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulate matter HAVE improved our environment without driving the economy into the ground. It’s a question of bang for the buck–if a company can reduce emissions of REAL pollutants by 95% or 98% with an add-on control that adds 5% to the cost of a product, the air gets 20 times cleaner at 5% more cost, and businesses will comply.
Carbon dioxide is different–it is NOT a pollutant, and is generated by anything that burns, so that reducing its emission by any significant percentage will cripple the economy due to lack of energy. The amount of “warming” avoided is trivial, and the cost/benefit ratio is huge–somewhere in the tens of trillions of dollars per degree.
The “global warming” alarmists also overlook the fact that plants grow faster and have higher crop yields in a high-CO2 atmosphere–more CO2 means a greener and more fertile Earth. The BEST thing we could do about CO2 is NOTHING!!!
Steve Z on March 23, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Called this before the election.
Under current law, global warming Cap and Trade will be brought into effect by Executive Order.
Once CO2 is declared a pollutant, it falls under the EPA to regulate… and as we know from the DDT decision in the 70s, its not about science at all, but about money, and politics.
Congress will not even be invited to get involved… kinda like the whole bailout… can’t send it to Congress because then you have other peoples opinions invovled…
Romeo13 on March 23, 2009 at 5:34 PM
And what happens when people and businesses just ignore it?
They close down the plant, put people out of work?
albill on March 23, 2009 at 6:05 PM
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