With so much raging around his ears, especially the VA scandal, for which the Eric Shinseki has finally thrown himself on his sword (though O called him a super awesome guy and the problems weren’t really Shinseki’s fault), O decides that nothing else is as important as instituting “carbon” rules for power plants, artificially raising your power costs, which also will mean raising your cost of living, which hurts lower and middle class folks, not 1%ers like Obama (video here)
Weekly Address: Reducing Carbon Pollution in Our Power Plants
Hi, everybody. I’m here at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., visiting with some kids being treated here all the time for asthma and other breathing problems. Often, these illnesses are aggravated by air pollution – pollution from the same sources that release carbon and contribute to climate change. And for the sake of all our kids, we’ve got to do more to reduce it.
Earlier this month, hundreds of scientists declared that climate change is no longer a distant threat – it “has moved firmly into the present.†Its costs can be measured in lost lives and livelihoods, lost homes and businesses; and higher prices for food, insurance, and rebuilding.
That’s why, last year, I put forward America’s first climate action plan. This plan cuts carbon pollution by building a clean energy economy – using more clean energy, less dirty energy, and wasting less energy throughout our economy.
So, right off the bat Obama discards any notion of science by terming it “carbon” and “carbon pollution”, rather than the proper name of carbon dioxide. There is a difference. And CO2 is a trace gas necessary for life on earth. It’s cute that he dives right in to the meme of asthma being aggravated by anthropogenic climate change. There is virtually no honest science on that, nor any honest science proving that the current rise in temps since 1850 has been caused by Mankind. Certainly, coal fired power plants usage can release particulates that can cause true pollution.
One of the best things we can do for our economy, our health, and our environment is to lead the world in producing cleaner, safer energy – and we’re already generating more clean energy than ever before. Thanks in part to the investments we made in the Recovery Act, the electricity America generates from wind has tripled. And from the sun, it’s increased more than tenfold. In fact, every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar – and every panel is pounded into place by a worker whose job cannot be shipped overseas.
Dear Lord, did he actually mention the utter waste of money known as the Recovery Act? Good grief, there were dozens of companies that failed, costing the US taxpayers billions of dollars. At least $154 billion has been wasted. And these companies are still failing. Few permanent jobs have been created. Energy costs have gone up, and the power grid is in danger when you have a harsh winter like America just went through.
We’re wasting less energy, too. We’ve doubled how far our cars and trucks will go on a gallon of gas by the middle of the next decade, saving you money at the pump – and we’re helping families and businesses save billions with more efficient homes, buildings, and appliances.
At the expense of making vehicles less safe, causing more people to die in crashes. And let’s not forget that gas has been averaging in the mid $3.50 range for most of Obama’s presidency, around a 96% increase from the day before he took office.
This week, we will. Today, about 40% of America’s carbon pollution comes from power plants. But right now, there are no national limits to the amount of carbon pollution that existing plants can pump into the air we breathe. None. We limit the amount of toxic chemicals like mercury, sulfur, and arsenic that power plants put in our air and water. But they can dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into the air. It’s not smart, it’s not safe, and it doesn’t make sense.
We limit those other “chemicals” (technically, all three are Elements) because they can cause actual air quality and life issues. CO2, not so much.
That’s why, a year ago, I directed the Environmental Protection Agency to build on the efforts of many states, cities, and companies, and come up with commonsense guidelines for reducing dangerous carbon pollution from our power plants. This week, we’re unveiling these proposed guidelines, which will cut down on the carbon pollution, smog, and soot that threaten the health of the most vulnerable Americans, including children and the elderly. In just the first year that these standards go into effect, up to 100,000 asthma attacks and 2,100 heart attacks will be avoided – and those numbers will go up from there.
In Reality World, that would be purely an emotional laden strawman. If it’s so bad, then why
So the idea of setting higher standards to cut pollution at our power plants is not new. It’s just time for Washington to catch up with the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, a good chunk of the world is moving past these silly “carbon pollution” regulations as their economies stagnate, jobs wither, and costs rise. Not to mention not having power available during the brutal winters over the last 6 years.
As President, and as a parent, I refuse to condemn our children to a planet that’s beyond fixing. The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But a low-carbon, clean energy economy can be an engine of growth for decades to come. America will build that engine. America will build the future. A future that’s cleaner, more prosperous, and full of good jobs – a future where we can look our kids in the eye and tell them we did our part to leave them a safer, more stable world.
Yet, he has the largest carbon footprint in the world. In the history of the world. It’s a pretty good bet that he will hit the golf course today. That typically involves a large motorcade of fossil fueled vehicles for the trip to and fro. He will most likely take a trip across the country for a bunch of fundraisers, sandwiched between an official event or two to avoid having to pay for the use of Air Force 1, in the next week or two. This involves a helicopter flight to the airport, a flight on AF1 (with the backup following), a large motorcade driving all around, then reverse it back to the White House. This is the behavior of a typical climahypocrite, who will force you to suffer for his beliefs, but won’t change his own behavior, and, in fact, is one of the worst climate offenders.
And Americans still tend to put the climate at the bottom of their concern list, especially having suffered through the crummy Obama economy for all these years.
As far as the planet being “beyond fixing”, refer to the above graphic.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Read: Obama Weekly Address: Common Sense “Carbon” Reductions Or Something »
