New EPA Rule Means the End of Natural Gas-Fueled Electricity

Please consider An EPA Death Sentence for Fossil-Fuel Power Plants

Progressives groused that the Inflation Reduction Act lacked “enforcement mechanisms” to punish fossil fuels. Well, the White House took care of that Thursday with a new 681-page Environmental Protection Agency proposed rule that amounts to a death sentence for fossil-fuel power plants.

Section 111 of the Clean Air Act says the EPA can regulate pollutants from stationary sources through the “best system of emission reduction” that is “adequately demonstrated.” Yet the EPA wants to require that fossil-fuel plants adopt carbon capture and green hydrogen technologies that aren’t currently cost-effective or feasible, and may never be. Only one commercial-scale coal plant in the world uses carbon capture to reduce emissions, and no gas-fired plants do.

Even if power plants implemented carbon capture, their cost of generation would double, rendering them less competitive against subsidized wind and solar power. There’s also the not-so-small problem of permitting. Thousands of miles of pipelines would have to be built to transport carbon to geologic structures where it can be injected.

Natural gas plants might be able to comply with the rule by blending hydrogen into fuel. But almost all hydrogen today is produced from natural gas, so this wouldn’t result in a net reduction in CO2. Hence, EPA wants to make gas plants use “low-greenhouse gas” hydrogen produced from renewable electricity, which is three to four times more expensive.

Blending more hydrogen into gas also increases NOx emissions and puts plants out of compliance with other EPA regulation. To reduce NOx, power plants would have to install new turbines and other equipment, some of which is only now being developed.

Alternatively, power plants can shut down, as most probably will.

But the clean energy future is still the future, and the technologies that EPA wants to mandate don’t exist. Forcing fossil-fuel plants to shut down prematurely will endanger grid reliability. Don’t worry, EPA says, plants won’t have to fully comply for seven to 12 years. But their owners and utilities must make economic investment calculations today.

Five Things About the EPA Proposal

1. Costs would soar
2. Energy reliability would dive
3. Ending natural gas would not do a damn thing for the environment because the US only produces 13 percent of the global carbon
4. Permitting all of the new carbon pipelines is a big deal. We are already seeing backlash against size of wind farms.
5. It’s not even constitutional 

The courts have already struck down many Biden’s unconstitutional power grabs. Student debt cancellation is on the deck and this one is sure to get a hearing.  

Biden Rulings Struck Down by the Courts

• Jan 13, 2022: Supreme Court blocks Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large private companies
• March 24, 2023: Court blocks Covid-19 vaccine mandate for U.S. government workers
• June 30, 2022: Supreme Court handcuffs Biden’s climate efforts
• August 26, 2021: Supreme Court halts Biden eviction moratorium

Biden Agenda Takes Hit From High Court

Please consider Biden Agenda Takes Hit From High Court

The 6-3 ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, primarily derails the EPA’s plan to shift power generation away from fossil-fuel plants to cleaner sources. But it also took a swipe at the entire executive branch’s ability to regulate other areas of American life. It cemented the majority’s perspective that Congress must explicitly give agencies the power to regulate “major questions” with significant economic or political implications.

“The constitution does not authorize agencies to use pen-and-phone regulations as substitutes for laws passed by the people’s representatives,” Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Samuel Alito, wrote in a concurring opinion.

The Thursday ruling serves as a glaring warning shot to Biden, who throughout his presidency has drawn scrutiny from the high court for seeking to create change through regulation in the absence of action from Congress. In limiting the EPA’s authority, the justices gave conservatives a playbook to target a range of Biden’s more ambitious regulations, including those governing how companies compete, the availability of vaping devices, and production of untraceable guns, administrative law professors told Bloomberg Law.

Try, Try, Again

“The constitution does not authorize agencies to use pen-and-phone regulations as substitutes for laws passed by the people’s representatives,” Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Samuel Alito, wrote in a concurring opinion.

Undaunted by previous Supreme Court rulings, the Biden EPA wrote a massive 681-page rule that amounts to a death sentence for fossil-fuel power plants.

The president is doing everything in his power (and many things that aren’t) to drive up inflation for ridiculous ideas that will not do much of anything for the climate even if implemented.

Pulling CO2 From the Air, a Giant Sucking Sound of Environmental Madness

On April 10, I commented Pulling CO2 From the Air, a Giant Sucking Sound of Environmental Madness

Thanks to government subsidies, Occidental is making a billion dollar bet on using tennis court sized fans to suck carbon dioxide from the air.

Battles Rage Over Biden’s Clean Energy Projects as the Size and Cost Jump

On May 8, I commented Battles Rage Over Biden’s Clean Energy Projects as the Size and Cost Jump

A NIMBY backlash has begun as the scope of the Inflation reduction act is too much for local communities.

One woman was offered $10,000 to have electric lines cross her property. She turned it down. Another said “not over my dead body”. 

Yet, we are to believe new carbon pipelines will run all over the place so we can pump CO₂ into the bedrock and hope it doesn’t escape. 

All of this madness is only possible because of insane EPA rulings, massive subsidies, unconstitutional actions, and forced willingness to depend on wind and solar projects that are not reliable because storage technology is woefully insufficient.

This post originated on MishTalk.Com.

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