Power Failure

The Supreme Court's ruling on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulation of coal-fired power plants designed to get electric utilities to consider alternate, environmentally friendly ways of generating power such as solar and wind, pretty much says that the EPA can't do that and has to let Congress - the same Congress that is so dysfunctional it can't even pass a non-controversial resolution honoring soccer (not that it's tried, that was sarcastic commentary) - either pass a law or allow the EPA that authority.

In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote, "The stakes here are high. Yet the Court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants' carbon dioxide emissions. The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency — the decision-maker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening."

I can.

Anyway, that pretty much is the first step in the next Republican President taking us out of the Paris Agreement again, possibly (likely?) as early as 2025.  As for the need to fight climate change, well, I'm ised to having climate change already.  Which reminds me - severe thunderstorms are forecast for my area today, and I expect an outage.

How ironic!

More Comings and Goings

Environmental Destruction Agency chief Scott Pruitt is out, the victim of his own lavish spending and influence peddling.  But those who think they can literally breathe easier ought to remember that Andrew Wheeler, the acting EDA administrator, is a former coal lobbyist.  Pruitt's departure treated a symptom.  The disease goes merrily on.

And Brett Kavanaugh, the new Supreme Court nominee?  I think his record says all you need to know about him, so I won't do more than cite it . . . and mention his opinion that sitting U.S. Presidents can't be indicted while in office.

Ironically, he worked for Ken Starr on the Whitewater investigation.

Please note that I didn't mention the current President's name.  I'm taking Martin O'Malley's advice and not talking about him. 

Oh yeah, Kavanaugh's another Catholic . . . are we ever going to see a Protestant on the High Court again??     

The Cases For and Against Scott Pruitt

FOR:  Scott Pruitt should be the director of the Environmental Protection Agency because he is eminently qualified to streamline the EPA's bureaucracy and devolve authority to the states, where local control is essential to guaranteeing clean air and water to residents, and he understands that the EPA's responsibility does not reach into the free-market realm of energy production, this interpretation of the EPA's mission being a gross and overly broad misrepresentation of its powers.  He is an independent thinker who will take a balanced approach to protecting our environment.

AGAINST:  Scott Pruitt is a corporate douche-bag who's in bed with Big Oil and Big Coal.  And his e-mail correspondence proves it!

It's settled: "Against" wins!  Unfortunately, Pruitt has already been confirmed as EPA director despite a court order demanding that he release the e-mails between him and the greediest polluters in America when he was Oklahoma Attorney General.  So, even though the argument against him wins, we Americans all lose.

Global Warnings

The Obama administration took what will hopefully be the first of many steps to combat global warning by allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate fossil fuel emissions from industrial polluters such as power plants, factories, and auto makers. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson declared that greenhouse gases are a health threat and a danger to public welfare, and she has directed her agency to begin mandating reductions in greenhouses gas emissions.

“The threat is real,” Jackson said yesterday. “Climate change has now become a household issue.”

She added that the EPA is authorized and obligated to try to to reduce greenhouse gas emissions per the Clean Energy Act.

This is clearly a victory for the environmental movement and for people who breathe. It's a small victory at best - these regulations are not susceptible to congressional approval, though many more proposed regulations are - but it's a constructive start. The Supreme Court had ruled in 2007 that the EPA is obligated to pursue these regulations but the Bush administration refused to sign off on them, and now President Obama is changing course.

Obama has also changed course for himself. Originally planning to visit Copenhagen for the early part of the climate change conference meeting there, he will now appear towards the end of the conference, when negotiations will likely be more detailed and intense. In addition, he's also pledge to get the United States to reduce carbon emissions to 2005 levels by 17 percent in 2020. Obama has been careful, though, not to promise more than he can deliver; several members of Congress oppose going further to restrict greenhouse gas emissions, most citing possible economic dislocation for business (but not necessarily workers employed in those businesses), with Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) foolishly insisting that global warming is a hoax.

Jackson has suggested numerous ways Americans can reduce their carbon footprint - smaller cars, more energy-efficient appliances, light rail transit - that are already par for the course in European countries and Japan. In Zurich, Switzerland, there's a concerted effort (reported by CBS News) to reduce daily electrical consumption to two thousand watts per day per resident, reducing its average per capita energy consumption by 67 percent by 2050. That could never happen in an American city. The average American already uses twice as much energy as what the average European uses now - twelve thousand watts versus six thousand. Could you imagine a city Las Vegas trying to get by on two thousand watts per day per person? Imagine what that would do to the casinos!

The average American - this one included - had better get used to cutting back. Conservation is the name of the game. The world is getting warmer, and the oil and gas are beginning to run out. The future is coming, and if present trends continue, it won't be pretty.