This coal-fired power plant is one of some 600 across the United States that together provide half of the country's electricity — and much of its greenhouse gas emissions.
Where has common sense gone in America? Every day new science and empirical evidence appear that dispute the claims made by global warming alarmists and yet the assault continues on our common sense. Even in the face of a global cool down we are told to deny our senses, common sense included, and accept a fact not in evidence.
This Msnbc article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30264214 is proof positive that Obama administration polices have no basis in substantive fact but are in fact the antithesis of common sense.
WASHINGTON - Having received White House backing, the Environmental Protection Agency declared Friday that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a significant threat to human health and thus will be listed as pollutants under the Clean Air Act — a policy the Bush administration rejected.
The article says:
Potential health impacts from warming, EPA scientists said in their recommendations include:
• longer and more severe heat waves;
• increased smog in some areas;
• dangerous flooding caused by stronger storms;
• And diseases, including malaria and dengue fever, related to flooding and warmer weather.
Maybe greenhouse gases are a threat, but the argument assumes that man is the primary cause of greenhouse gases, namely Carbon Dioxide (C02). “Your honor, the prosecution is assuming facts not in evidence”. The truth is volcanoes, decaying organic material and cow farts are producing more greenhouse gases daily than man.
On average a 1,000 MW coal-burning power plant could release as much as 5.2 tons/year of emissions, particularly carbon dioxide. There are about 617 coal fired plants in the US. By contrast Mt St. Helens released about 24,200 tons of C02 daily at the peak of its last eruption. That’s one volcano, one eruption, and according to the USGS there are about 500 active volcanoes in the world, not counting the ones below the sea.
Mt St. Helens is a baby volcano by comparison to the likes of Toba, Krakatau and Yellowstone. When Toba erupted about 74,000 years ago it dumped ten thousand times the amount of C02 into the atmosphere as Mt. St. Helens (about 242 million tons). Yet somehow despite this our planet is not a raging inferno of global warming. This is where commons sense comes in.
Volcanoes have been erupting, organic material decaying and animals farting since long before man was here. The planet survived, the planet has not spiraled into runaway global warming and life goes on. So if the truth of the matter is not based on science what is the motive, what is the true agenda. One word answer for you here; Control. If these emissions were ad destructive as they claim we would certainly have to come up with a workable plan to mitigate volcanic activity.
The article went on to say:
The move could allow the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases, but it's more likely that the Obama administration will use the action to prod Congress to pass regulations around a system to cap and then trade emissions so that they are gradually lowered.
The EPA last month sent its proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which reviewed and approved it. By law, the decision includes a public comment period before being finalized.
The EPA concluded that six greenhouse gases should be considered pollutants under the 1970 Clean Air Act, which is already used to curb emissions that cause acid rain, smog and soot.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs last month said "the president has made quite clear" that he prefers to have the climate issue addressed by Congress as part of a broad, mandatory limit on heat-trapping emissions.
Other critics have noted that the Clean Air Act regulates any stationary source — from a gas station to a power plant — that emits more than 250 tons of a pollutant a year. That would place thousands of smaller sources under onerous federal rules, those critics say.
Ah, there it is; more government regulation of businesses, more fees penalties, freedoms lost, and of course taxes. It’s always about control with the government, the power to tell you what to do and not to do. This is rarely possible without an imminent crisis looming large on the horizon. I’m sure its for our own good though.
The bottom line is this is a side door to the cap and trade legislation. The administration knows that it will be hard to convince people that paying double the amount for electricity is a good idea. So instead they slide it by us through the side door. I admire his determination but absolutely deplore his indifference to the proletariat, for shoving this unethical, quasi-socialist incrementalist, garbage down our throats.
