Newsbytes: Obama/EPA put CO2 regulation on hold

While the Goreacle was bloviating about “24 hours of climate reality“, Obama quietly slipped in the real reality – CO2 regulation is put on hold and Gore’s quest to regain his climate mojo has been made even more irrelevant.

Obama Delays CO2 Regulations Indefinitely

The Environmental Protection Agency is again delaying a plan to curb greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, saying it needs more time to propose the rule. The move comes amid intense pushback from business groups and Republican lawmakers who complain a recent slate of EPA proposals are chilling business investment and hindering the economic recovery. “I am very pleased by today’s announcement that one of EPA’s most economically damaging rules will be delayed,” Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe said in a statement, adding that Republicans would work to block other EPA rules from coming into effect. —The Wall Street Journal, 15 September 2011

A $38.6 billion loan guarantee program that the Obama administration promised would create or save 65,000 jobs has created just a few thousand jobs two years after it began. The program has directly created 3,545 new, permanent jobs after giving out almost half the allocated amount, according to Energy Department  tallies. —Carol Leonnig and Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, 15 September 2011

The feds’ probe into the collapse of a green-tech firm favored by the White House could spell trouble for Team Obama in 2012. –Edward Morrisey, The Week, 13 September 2011

Last winter over three quarters of people rationed their energy use because of cost, while over 14 million households went without heating at some point to keep their energy costs down. The total amount of people pushed into fuel poverty now stands at an estimated 6.87 million.My Finances News, 15 September 2011

Government climate change targets will put £500 on the average family’s fuel bill within four years, a study warns today. The report warns that the political elite’s obsession with renewable energy will damage Britain’s competitiveness without necessarily doing anything to tackle climate change. –Jason Groves, Daily Mail, 15 September 2011

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Thanks to Dr. Benny Peiser at The Global Warming Policy Foundation

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Madman2001
September 16, 2011 12:32 pm

Yes, along with the delay of the EPA’s rules for ozone, this is good news for the US economy and for those of us already struggling with energy bills (and that will be me, if this winter’s anything like last winter).

September 16, 2011 12:34 pm

The Environmental Protection Agency is again delaying a plan to curb greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, saying it needs more time to propose the rule.
No doubt this is a re-election move.
Even so, one can only hope the next election will move us toward removing CO2 from the pollution list.

John from CA
September 16, 2011 12:37 pm

Mark says:
September 16, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Last I checked the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is moving forward with it’s Cap and Trade plan for CO2 reduction out here in CA (as per AB 32).
=====
We reside in looney land, it doesn’t count in the real world and is doomed to fail.

Donny Cook
September 16, 2011 12:39 pm

Is it just more or does gore look constipated?

Andrew Harding
Editor
September 16, 2011 12:47 pm

Richard Verney says.
“Now if only there could be some commonsense shown by the UK and European political leadership. If only they would put on hold the rush for renewables, at least whilst they sort out the current financial crisis. By the time that that problem is sorted out (which is a serious problem and not some imaginary threat existing in cyberspace/in the modeler’s minds), it may become clearer that we are in for a sustained period of cooling giving us even more time to understand the workings of the atmosphere, the issues truly arising and to consider a more sensible course for future energy production”.
Europe cannot solve anything, they are too collectively stupid to realise the euro is doomed, that Greece, Portugal, Sapin and Italy need to devalue and can’t. When it finally goes tits up, it will bring UK and USA economies down with it. As for AGW, they want to increase energy prices, transportation costs, fuel prices to stop this mythical effect and wreck whatever is left of EU countries economies.
The expression “A camel is a horse designed by a committee” was never more true.
Hats off to Obama though for realising the futility of “green” energy policies.

Paddy
September 16, 2011 12:59 pm

There are a plethora of parties challenging the rule and the manner in which it was promulgated. I suspect that both EPA staff attorneys and DOJ counterparts defending the rule have concluded that it is indefensible. As time passes, new research and data will make enactment more difficult. I doubt that a new of revised rule will be promulgated before the 2012 elections.

Kai B
September 16, 2011 1:05 pm

Gobama! never thought I’d say that!!

Latitude
September 16, 2011 1:20 pm

Obama quietly………..
…..as his numbers continue to free fall……….quietly

BravoZulu
September 16, 2011 1:23 pm

It is just a political move until after the election.

RockyRoad
September 16, 2011 1:32 pm

Ric Werme says:
September 16, 2011 at 12:18 pm

Dang, clearly the Gore-a-thon wasn’t effective enough. Perhaps they should have scheduled it for 48 hours.

Or more; Gore should do it full time, 24/7. Such a charade will have the same impact as when Obama takes the stage–every policy he pushes from the pulpit suddenly becomes less popular.
So go, Gore, go! Take your dog and pony show on the road; make it a bus tour with a big placard on both sides that announce your intentions–Climate Reality a la mode. In another decade or two you’ll have everybody convinced there’s nothing wrong with the climate (but watch out for those cross winds and occasional tornadoes as you travel the heartland–they can ruin a perfectly good bus).

September 16, 2011 1:40 pm

“The report warns that the political elite’s obsession with renewable energy will damage Britain’s competitiveness without necessarily doing anything to tackle climate change. –Jason Groves, Daily Mail, 15 September 2011”
Why this is in the future tense is beyond me. I see Europeans running around trying to save their Mediterranean EU members and everyone discussing the problem with the economy and why the stock markets have swooned. In Europe, there can be little question that the hundreds of billions put into renewable energy, the scuttling of cheap energy plants has decimated the economy – both manufacturing and at home. And look at Denmark – they’ve kicked out a centrist government in favor of Social(ist) Democrats and if the head of the World Bank hadn’t diddled a chambermaid, the socialists were a shoe-in to oust Sarkozy. These people want to flagelate themselves to death with a irretrievable failed system that is anti capital, anti business and their platform is to redistribute wealth that they have had a hand in destroying. I have appealed to Brits anytime I can to get away from that continental contagion and go with the English-Speaking world if they are looking for an economic block to do business in and with. I tell them that is why they haven’t given up the British pound yet and thrown there lot in with the birthplace of socialism. We should be innoculating ourselves against this plague, too, as it has corroded more than the edges of the only economic system that can deliver.

Warrick
September 16, 2011 1:43 pm

Further roll out of the ETA in New Zealand delayed was announced yesterday – concern over financial turmoil or perhaps a softening of the stance in preparation for removal? Unfortunately, I don’t think the latter, although waiting to announce it while media attention is on the Rugby World Cup could be significant.

Dan in California
September 16, 2011 1:55 pm

Let’s not forget 2008 presidential candidate Obama saying that higher energy prices are required for his new hope and change direction. The link is to his statement to the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kerry-picket/2008/11/02/obama-energy-prices-will-skyrocket
I expect him to return to this after reelection.

George E. Smith
September 16, 2011 2:08 pm

How can he do that when no less august scientific body, as the US Supreme Court has ruled that carbon is poisonous to humans and the EPA must regulate it.
Well I guess the Emperor is a god, and can over rule the Supremes.

Jim Barker
September 16, 2011 3:00 pm

Well, we can breath again freely, for a little while.

Breckite
September 16, 2011 3:07 pm

Gore does not look healthy. All the lying and deception must be having adverse effects on his health.

John Whitman
September 16, 2011 3:12 pm

Obama is toast. He will not be the Democratic candidate for 2012, unless the Democratic Party has suicidal tendences.
It won’t matter anyway with non-Democratic majority in th house and senate.
John

u.k.(us)
September 16, 2011 3:22 pm

The environmentalists loosened the leash on the economy.
Watch out China, here we come.

LazyTeenager
September 16, 2011 4:19 pm

business groups and Republican lawmakers who complain a recent slate of EPA proposals are chilling business investment and hindering the economic recovery. “
———
Not to mention the uncertainty that causes people not to spend and businesses not to invest while the republicans are screwing around.

Latitude
September 16, 2011 4:47 pm

First out president says – we have to do this or basically we’re all going to die
Now he says we’re obviously not…….
…that bozo doesn’t believe it either

KevinK
September 16, 2011 5:20 pm

In additional GOOD news the Power Authority of New York State has put off plans for wind turbines in Lakes Erie and/or Ontario !!!!!!
IMHO The tide is definitely turning.
Just some background the New York Power Authority is an independent Authority that does not answer easily to the voters of New York. They went ahead and got quotes from vendors with NO input from the public. Once the “secret” got out there was quite a bit of backlash.
The lakes are like most “windpower” sites, quite a blow one day, and so calm the water looks like glass the next day.
Cheers, Kevin

KevinK
September 16, 2011 5:26 pm

George E. Smith wrote;
“How can he do that when no less august scientific body, as the US Supreme Court has ruled that carbon is poisonous to humans and the EPA must regulate it.”
My understanding of the SCOTUS ruling was that according to the Clean Air Act the EPA must regulate “greenhouse gases” if the EPA determines they are a pollutant. SCOTUS did not rule that GHG’s are a pollutant, only that if EPA determines they are a pollutant EPA must regulate them.
Deciding they are a pollutant was totally the choice of the EPA, and they heavily quoted the IPCC when making the determination.
That’s my understanding, I could be incorrect.
Cheers, Kevin

polistra
September 16, 2011 5:29 pm

the Knife:
“Sooooooo….. the EPA is reduced to being a show poodle, that ‘heels’ when the Obama administration jerks their leash?? This is the same way Hugo Chavez operates in Venezuela…..”
NO. EXACTLY WRONG.
This is the same way the American system is SUPPOSED to operate. EPA is an agency of the Executive branch, and it is SUPPOSED to heel when the President jerks its leash. That’s the whole point of having a President.
Trouble is, until now no President has decided to jerk its leash. Both Bushes fed EPA raw meat and let it go feral, tearing up the landscape and killing everything in sight.
Until now, Obama was feeding it even more raw meat than the Bushes did.
Now he’s finally doing what a President is SUPPOSED to do. Whether he can keep it up, time will tell. He’s not very strong.

Curiousgeorge
September 16, 2011 5:55 pm

@polistra says:
September 16, 2011 at 5:29 pm
……………….. He’s not very strong.
Actually, he’s very strong. We can smell him clear down here in Dixie.

SSam
September 16, 2011 6:08 pm

Nice Gorey Pic on the post. It appears as if he is trying to personally hold in CO2 in order to save the planet
… or he has gas.