States Sue White House over Global Warming Plan
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CBN News
WASHINGTON -- More than 20 states and other
organizations are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over
President Barack Obama's plan to fight global warming.
The president says his plan will help the
environment. But critics call it a war on coal, warning it will be bad
for many businesses and the economy.
Now they're asking a court to overturn the rule and put it on ice until the litigation plays out.
They say it's just the latest example of the
president using his executive authority to bypass Congress, this time
using the EPA to force states to transform their electricity grids.
The EPA has given each state a goal to meet by 2030.
Some must reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by nearly half. If
states don't formulate plans to reach the EPA's goal, the federal
government will create one for them.
Luke Popovich works for the National Mining Association, one of the groups filing suit.
"Essentially what this plan does is take away our
most affordable sources of generating electricity which is coal and then
natural gas," Popovich told CBN News.
Coal generates nearly 40 percent of the nation's
power. The president wants to replace it with more renewable fuels, such
as wind and solar, which make up about 6 percent of the market.
Changing the nation's power grid will be costly.
"They will claim that this plan will cost you money,
even though this plan, the analysis shows, will ultimately save the
average American nearly $85 a year on their energy bills," Obama said.
But that's 15 years away. Until then, experts say
costs will be passed on to customers, mostly hurting low-income
Americans and the elderly living on fixed incomes.
The coal industry also expects to lose more jobs on top of the 40,000 lost over the past three years.
"Virtually no environmental benefit is being achieved by all this economic havoc," Popovich charged.
"I mean it's one thing if we could say, 'Well, we
have to pay a substantial price in order to really address global
warming, however serious you think it may be,'" he continued. "By the
EPA's own numbers this play will have virtually negligible effect on
global warming."
That's because China and other developing nations are major polluters.
But expect a fight. Addressing climate change is one
of the president's top priorities before he leaves office. He
personally promoted his plan on social media during a recent trip to
Alaska.
"Behind me is one of the most visited glaciers in Alaska, it is spectacular," Obama said. "This is worth preserving."
But as the holder of the world's largest supply of coal, Popovich says taking it off the table just doesn't make sense.
"When instead we could use the same amount of money
that we're going to be forcing taxpayers to pay in higher electricity
costs and instead put that money into technology innovation," Popovich
said.
"And then, not only use that technology for the
resource we have here, keep those jobs and that resource here in the
U.S., but use it much more cleanly," he continued.
"And at the same time sell that technology abroad to
the big emitting countries like China and India who are going to be
using coal whether we like it or not," he said.
The next move belongs to the court.
Source: CBN News