EPA Proposes Burdensome Regulations On Wood Stoves

By William Teach April 5, 2014 – 6:57 am

More mission creep, more highhanded government causing problems for citizens

(Fox News) A federal proposal requiring more efficiency from wood-burning stoves has ignited a debate between the Obama administration and lawmakers who oppose the new regulations, arguing the rules impose an unfair burden on people in remote areas.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule changes in January that would dramatically tighten emissions requirements on new wood-powered heaters, though does not impact ones already in homes.

The EPA estimates that as much as 13 percent of all soot pollution in the U.S. is a result of inefficient wood-fired stoves and boilers.

Is soot a problem from a purely environmental viewpoint? Yes. Just like it has been since Man discovered fire. Of course, these wankers are looking at it from a “climate change” point of view, rather than simply a clean air and water view. I wonder if they plan on implementing regulations against Mother Nature for when she starts fires from lightening strikes?

Among those opposed to new rules are South Dakota Republicans Sen. John Thune and Rep. Kristi Noem, who say the new requirements will have a big impact on South Dakotans who rely on wood stoves during the long winter.

“Leave it to the EPA to impose more regulations on an affordable and renewable fuel source after one of the coldest winters on record and a costly propane shortage,” Noem said.

Hey, the EPA saw a sector that was booming, and someone said “hey, let’s use our Power to Do Something”, and that do something is to require an 80% decrease in “emissions” within 5 years.

It would apply to wood heaters, including outdoor and indoor wood-fired boilers, known as hydronic heaters. The changes would only apply to new stoves and rules would not impact outdoor fireplaces, fire pits or other types of outdoor fire containers.

Those are used in typically non-urban areas to provide heat. Can’t have people being warm, now, can we? At least not with a large increase in cost.

In October, seven states primarily located in the urban northeast — New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont — sued the EPA asking the agency to update their emission policy to include wood-fired boilers.

So, instead of simply dealing with this in their own states, these Progressive (nice fascist) states want to foist and force their beliefs on Everyone Else. This probably won’t go down too well for people in upstate NY nor Vermont, where they would be more prone to using the stoves.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Hooray! Someone Is Finally Going To Cover “Climate Change” On TV

By William Teach April 4, 2014 – 3:48 pm

Whew! Our long national nightmare is over

It’s About Time Someone On TV News Covered Climate Change Like This

Geez, TV news– it’s about time!

In a one-hour documentary on Sunday, Ann Curry will be reporting on an angle of climate change that is scarcely found on TV news: that “there is virtually no debate among climate scientists”–climate change is real and “largely caused by human activity.” Curry will travel to areas high and low in the world, from the Arctic to the Florida seas, and speak to eyewitnesses of the devastating consequences of climate change, NBC News announced Thursday.

Hooray, Ann will take lots of fossil fueled around the world to tell us that fossil fuels are Really Bad. Aren’t you excited?

(Broadway World) The report features ordinary people who say their experiences convince them – they are eyewitnesses to climate change, including the Inuit in Greenland, and the victims of Hurricane Sandy. We also hear from some of the world’s top climate scientists who explain whether there is a link between climate change and extreme storms, like the deep freeze this past winter in places like Atlanta. They also tell us how to get ready for what some call the new normal.

If that’s the new normal, wouldn’t that mean we’re heading into a cooler climate?

Ann Curry Travels the World in Search of Climate Change

Curry’s report will air across all of NBC News’ platforms, including the Today Show, Nightly News, Meet the Press and NBCNews.com. Plus, nbcnews.com/anncurry will feature original digital reports from Italy, Washington state, Florida and Washington, DC and will highlight select viewer social media posts.

Wow, that’s sure going to use quite a bit of energy, which creates “carbon pollution”, eh? Anyhow, let’s see the real consensus

Again, this does not disprove that the earth is currently in a warm period. What it does do is put yet another nail in the coffin that the warming is a result of mostly/solely anthropogenic causes.

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Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 4, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrid world killing dog, which will cause the world to boil and the seas to rise, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lonely Conservative, with a post on Bobby Jindal’s healthcare plan.

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High Flying Christiana Figueres Calls For Leaving Almost All Fossil Fuels In The Ground

By William Teach April 4, 2014 – 10:33 am

This is the same lady who thinks communism is the best way to fight climate change and hates US democracy (via Junk Science)

(Reuters) The U.N.’s climate chief called on the oil and gas industry on Thursday to make a drastic shift to a clean, low-carbon future or risk having to leave three-quarters of fossil fuel reserves in the ground.

“The time for experimentation, for marginal changes and for conditional response is now over,” Christiana Figueres told the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) in a speech in London.

I’m sure the fossil fuels industry was thrilled by the notion of firing themselves.

She urged an “urgent transformation” to greener production after top scientists warned on Monday that climate change would damage food supplies, slow economic growth and aggravate the underlying causes of armed conflicts.

Limiting global warming to an agreed U.N. ceiling “means that three quarters of the fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground, and the fossil fuels we do use must be utilized sparingly and responsibly,” she said.

By “sparingly and responsibly” she probably means “allowing Christiana to take all sorts of fossil fueled trips around the world while restricting its use for Other People.” Does anyone think she walked to the speech? In the last year she’s given speeches in:

  • Bonn, Germany (twice)
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Songdo, South Korea
  • Warsaw, Poland
  • Cambridge, Mass
  • Bogota, Columbia
  • Barcelona, Spain
  • Boston, Mass
  • San Francisco, California

If you continue down the list, you’ll find that she visits all sorts of places around the world. Australia, Barbados, China, Abu Dhabi, Durban, etc, lots and lots of fossil fueled trips. This would be a pure example of what would be termed hypocrisy. It’s also interesting to note that she seems to want to deny the same cheap energy to people in developing nations.

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Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Maryland Ocare Exchange Has A Net Loss

By William Teach April 4, 2014 – 7:56 am

Remember how Maryland was supposed to be a model for how the new “Affordable” Care Act exchanges would work? Well, that was before their website turned out to be a complete failure. They’re now looking to use the Connecticut exchange software, after pissing away $125 million, which could cost another $30 million or more. Know what else failed?

(CNS News) The head of the Maryland Health Insurance Exchange testified Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that only 60,000 people have signed up for Obamacare through the state’s exchange – 13,000 less than the number of individuals reported to lose their insurance due to Obamacare.

“According to our reports, according to AP, press accounts, 73,000 individuals in Maryland were going to lose their insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, and what you’re telling me is your revised goal is approximately the same number – 75,000. So your revised goal of people you’re gonna sign up is: We’re gonna sign up the people who were kicked off of the Affordable Care Act,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said.

So, there you go, a net loss of 13,000. Of course, the question is “how many said to hell with the Exchange and purchased insurance on their own?” If so, it’s interesting that so many did not want to go through the Exchange. But, then, the original goal was 150,000 “private” insurance signups through the Exchange originally.

In prepared written testimony, Joshua Sharfstein, chair of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, said, “We expect that by the time the dust settles, more than 290,000 Marylanders will have enrolled in coverage since January 1, including more than 60,000 Marylanders in qualified health plans and more than 230,000 Marylanders in Medicaid.”

Which should be equally as disturbing, since so many people are being moved to Government paid for and Government controlled plans, creating more entitlement.

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Posted in Democrats, Healthcare | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Could Skeptic Keith Baugues Be The Next Victim Of The Progressive Truth Squad?

By William Teach April 4, 2014 – 7:26 am

We already know that people who fail to toe the Progressive line can be hounded, demeaned, abused, and even forced out of their jobs. Witness Mozilla CEO Brenden Eichs, forced to step down because he dared to donate a measly $1,000 to Proposition 8. Even Andrew Sullivan thought forcing Eichs out was a Bad Idea, was too much, and showed no tolerance. Then witness what the IRS did to TEA Party groups. Witness the President of the United States Of America insult, denigrate, abuse, ridicule, and just plain treat American citizens who have different political views with a lack of respect. Witness Harry Reid, the Majority Leader in the US Senate, denigrate private citizens, the Charles and David Koch. Remember Joe the Plumber, hounded because he responded to a question Obama asked him? How about all the people who complained about Obamacare? I often mention that Progressives are what Jonah Goldberg refers to as “nice fascists”. Warmists are part of that movement, and most certainly have to drop the nice when people refuse to toe the line

(USA Today) Keith Baugues is not a scientist, but that didn’t stop him on a recent wintry day from expressing skepticism about global warming — something that is broadly accepted in the scientific community.

After weeks of heavy snow and freezing air, he had had enough. He took to a government message board one day in February, complaining that his normal 45-minute commute had turned into a painful three-hour slog. “Anyone who says global warming is obviously suffering from frostbite,” he wrote.

Baugues would later say he was only joking. But he wasn’t just any government bureaucrat. Baugues is assistant commissioner in the Office of Air Quality in the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the man in charge of cleaning up Indiana’s air.

He’s apparently not allowed to hold a different position, because, as we all know, global warming is the result of everything, and has taken over the environmental movement.

Reaction was swift, according to remarks posted to the message board reviewed by The Indianapolis Star. Several Environmental Management staff members wrote that the comment flew in the face of nearly unanimous scientific consensus and offended and embarrassed them.

“Either support consensus science or please keep your opinions to yourself. The rest of us are embarrassed by your unwillingness to accept what is happening,” one worker wrote.

Of course, there is no such thing as consensus science, unless we are referring to political science. Let’s not forget that the real consensus is that 95% of the models have failed. Many of the comments whined at Baugues talking about consensus. So does the USA Today article. Funny that they so rarely talk about science, following the scientific model, doing experiments, looking at the raw data, etc.

Another said that Baugues “should not speak on such matters until he is better informed.” Then that person, who was not named, took pains to point out that recent extremes of cold weather were caused by warming global temperatures. That resulted in more water being absorbed into the atmosphere, pushing the arctic jet stream farther south.

I believe the clinical term for these Warmists is Bat Guano Insane.

Anyhow, despite attempting to mollify the Progressive Truth Squad a bit, Baugues declared that he is “a skeptic of global warming”. He also wrote that he is more than willing to have a discussion. But Warmists do not want a debate, even though Indiana has attained air quality mandate compliance under Baugues. Oh, no, a head must roll

But some scientists and environmentalists note that Baugues’ comments are at such odds with overwhelming scientific opinion that they wonder whether he is the right person to lead Indiana’s efforts to regulate air polluters.

Will this go further? Will they hound this man out of a job because he holds the wrong political belief? Time will tell. What we do know is that Mr. Baugues best watch his back, because the Progressive Truth Squad is on the case.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Posted in Global Warming, Liberal World | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

House GOP Goes After “Climate Change” Spending

By William Teach April 3, 2014 – 4:56 pm

This is obviously going to cause much freakout in Warmist World, where they expect Someone Else to pay up

(Bloomberg) A fiscal year 2015 budget plan developed by House Republicans aims to reduce funding for federal climate change programs.

The House fiscal 2015 budget resolution, released April 1, proposes to cut overall spending on the federal government’s climate change-related activities, mostly through reduced spending on overseas climate change activities. The budget resolution also recommends that federal agencies streamline climate change programs to eliminate “duplicative and unnecessary” spending.

The budget blueprint also recommends ending funding for renewable energy programs and expanding oil and gas development on federal land.

One thing to note: I have no problem with tax breaks/incentives for alternative energy, and if they are going to be offered for oil, coal, nuclear and natural gas, alternatives should get them. However, no subsidies, no more taxpayer funded boondoggles.

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Posted in Energy, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 3, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible ocean rising and evil rains a comin’ due to Someone Else not buying local, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Fire Andrea Mitchell, with a post on insanity at the Huffington Post.

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We’re Having The Wrong Debate On Hotcoldwetdry Or Something

By William Teach April 3, 2014 – 11:43 am

I’m going to skip the whinyness and woe-is-us from Warmist Fiona Johnson, and skip to the fun part

I find it frustrating that the comments in social media and on forums degenerate in a fairly predictable way when it comes to so-called debates about human-induced climate change.

But we are having the wrong debate. For climate change, the evidence is clear that carbon dioxide and temperatures are increasing. Where is the interest in debating observations?

Data like this?

Alas, she doesn’t really want to discuss data, probably because the real world data is pesky and blows the models and talking points out of the water.

What is more interesting is when we have to make decisions that depend on the values that we hold as a community. Someone may value free markets, someone else may value the natural diversity of our coral reefs, whilst a third may value a large house on the beach. The debate that we need to have is how these values can co-exist or if they can’t then how to prioritise them. But the current level of vitriol doesn’t promote rational discussions.

So, we do not need to discuss science and data, but feelings. Cult, anyone?

Read: We’re Having The Wrong Debate On Hotcoldwetdry Or Something »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Chile’s Earthquake Means We Need To Take “Climate Change” Seriously Or Something

By William Teach April 3, 2014 – 8:07 am

You just knew that some Warmist somewhere was going to link the recent 8.2 Chile earthquake to “climate change”, right? Here we go

Chile’s Terrifying Earthquake Makes It Clear That We Need to Take Climate Change Seriously

An 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck the northern coast of Chile Tuesday night, triggering landslides, fires, a small tsunami, destruction of homes and power outages. Reports say six people have been killed, either from being crushed by debris or from suffering heart attacks. The scene was chaos as more than 900,000 people were evacuated, hundreds of prisoners escaped and aftershocks rocked the country. With power and road access cut off in many areas, people were waiting in the dark atop hills for help, CNN reported.

Tuesday’s enormous earthquake and its alarming repercussions may be part of a larger phenomenon less natural than we might think: climate change. (snip)

For many, this earthquake evokes the panic Chile suffered in the aftermath of its 2010 earthquake that, at 8.8 on the Richter scale, killed more than 500 people and actually knocked the Earth a few degrees off its axis. In 2004 the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami killed more than 200,000 people and also shifted the Earth off its axis. With each small degree change in the Earth’s axis, time as we know it changes. Our days literally shorten.

Marguerite Ward attempts to make a link to the glacial melt

Today, while we’re far from our more glacial past, we are experiencing warming and rising sea levels at an unprecedented rate. As glaciers melt, fault lines are able to move more easily, making earthquakes more possible and common.

Except, the earthquake was not an area with any melting glaciers. Nor was the one in the Indian Ocean. Nor the Japanese earthquake (though she doesn’t mention it, Warmists did go down that road)

The Incorporated Research Institute for Seismology runs a live interactive map of all recent earthquakes. Both large and small, there have been nearly 33,000 earthquakes this past year alone. Hundreds of earthquakes have shaken the Earth in the past seven days. Will earthquakes like the one that rocked Chile this week become more common as the Earth’s climate changes? It may be time to rethink what exactly climate change means.

Read: Chile’s Earthquake Means We Need To Take “Climate Change” Seriously Or Something »

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