Guest post by David Middleton
Just when you think that the EPA cannot possibly get any more idiotic…
U.S. EPA sues OG&E over work at Oklahoma coal power plants
Tue Jul 9, 2013
(Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sued Oklahoma Gas and Electric for failure to follow procedures required by the Clean Air Act while upgrading two coal plants in the state.
The EPA said in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on Monday that OG&E, a unit of OGE Energy Corp, failed to estimate emissions resulting from construction projects between 2003 and 2006 at its facilities.
The Clean Air Act requires regulated facilities to anticipate emissions increases that would result from physical changes, so that, if required, a utility can take steps to prevent them, according to the complaint.
OG&E spokesman Brian Alford said the company believed it had been and still was in compliance with all state and federal requirements.
“We intend to vigorously defend our position, which is that we followed procedures,” he said, “and actual monitored data indicates that emissions did not increase as a result of the work that was done.”
[…]
Shares of OGE were up 1.5 percent at $35.07 in morning trading.
The EPA claims that OG&E failed to estimate emissions that did not occur. They are suing OG&E in an effort to force the company “to assess whether its projects were likely to result in a significant [GHG] emissions increase.”
The EPA had no authority to regulate GHG emissions when the work was done (2003 & 2006). The work (on boilers and turbine blade replacements) caused no emissions increase.
This is how politics occurs in totalitarian states – companies abused and bullied at the whim of politicians.
What happens next is you get a third world economy. When a third world company is threatened by the competition, instead of cutting prices or improving services, they call in political favours to have the competition shut down.
The effect this abuse has on the quality of services and goods received by the consumer, and the prices they pay, I leave to your imagination.
If there is a bright side to this, it might be that such absurd excesses will create a backlash against the oppression.
“First, you show up and crucify the first young men you see, to make an example.”
Meh.
Court judgements don’t mean much; look at the NLRB member who was found to be seated to the board illegally (as determined by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit):
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/labor/300273-court-rules-against-nlrb-recess-appointment
.
The EPA is going to frivolous lawsuit our power companies to death. Until the price of energy is skyhigh, and our companies and families are suffering dreadfully. And our economy retrenches.
“A massive campaign must be launched to de-develop the United States.” -John Holdren, Obama’s Science Czar
Fascism.
“If there is a bright side to this, it might be that such absurd excesses will create a backlash against the oppression.”
Unfortunately.Glynn,you are wrong.Sheeples will just keep paying the corrupt politicos to carry on.
When some clown shows up on my door step,and tells me I can’t grow my carrots because they are not “properly” spaced,well. I’ll leave it at that.
Not a lawyer but there is a provision in law that you cannot break one if it is impossible to follow. The greens did that with the Vegetation Management Act in Australia, where they could redraw vegetation maps without notifying the land owner.
Seems a similar case.
If this complaint originated with the Oklahoma Dept. of Environmental Quality, I’m not surprized at all. ODEQ is a very troublesome and radical organization in my experience. They pulled this crap on me at the natural gas plant where I work. In our case, they (ODEQ) actually signed off on documents specifically stating that our plant was not subject to a certain set of regulations (subpart KKK), then 3 years later they came in and tried to levy a heap of fines on us for not complying with it. Even after we produced the documents with their head honcho’s signature on it, they still pursued the punishment. We did not back down, and ultimately wound up in some heated meetings, until they finally backed down, althought they still act like they are doing you a favor by letting you off the hook. Pompous a-holes they are, and intimidation is their go-to tactic.
The slate must be cleared, no other way, E.P.A. purged.
Retroactive prosecution of Coal is simply another front in the President’s war on American and its energy, one utilizing time travel.
Is it mere coincidence that this clearly groundless, harassment, lawsuit follows a senator (Jim Inhofe) from Oklahoma’s recent, severe, criticism of the Puppet-in-Chief? I don’t think so.
May 9, 2013 — Inhofe speaks bluntly about Dopebama and Benghazi homicides
[Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/299009-inhofe-obama-could-be-impeached-over-benghazi%5D
June 27, 2013 — Inhofe criticizes Dopebama’s control-the-climate speech
“The future laid out by the president is one of economic stagnation, high unemployment, and an uncompetitive and uncertain economy. We need jobs, not more fanciful posturing and politics.”
[Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/27/obama-climate-change-sen-inhofe-editorials-debates/2465939/%5D
PAY BACK.
The fact that the EPA case is laughably weak indicates: 1) they were in a hurry to get it done to “get him;” and/or 2) it is just what it appears to be, frivolous. Likely to be thrown out on 12(b)(6) Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (…. unless they get a crooked judge….), but, the EPA won’t care; harassment accomplished. Disgusting.
retroactively breaking the law………………
I wish we could do to the people (Obama and his EPA) as those in Boston did when the king was forcefully unloading tea (with a heavy British tax attached) in Boston harbor. A tar and feathering seems to be in order..
Hopefully one day soon the contractors and power companies will say enough it enough and go explain how the world works to Obama and the EPA – both legally and politically. Time to “transfer” some EPA staff to the private sector. It’s been done before in Canada and Britain and from what I know, it can happen in the US but perhaps it is more difficult.
I hope the defense asks for total reimbursement of funds to defend this frivolous law suit and have the court issue an injunction which bars them from any further filings.
Note that I made an assumption that this dealt with GHG emissions. The article doesn’t state this.
Time for Congress to withdraw funding from the EPA – anything less is a betrayal of the people who voted for them.
There have been some number of recent opinion pieces in local OKC papers by enviro- types telling us that we need to switch to “affordable” wind power, etc.
After the state’s recent thrashing by tornadoes, there were quite a few opinions expressed in left- wing columns on the web in which the lefties were universally saying that those who suffered from the storms should be denied aid and they also called for shutting down OK military bases and other methods of depriving the state of federal monies, to teach us a lesson (because of the State’s conservative representation/opinions in Washington.)
The activists have us in their sights. Not only did they freely expressed their sentiments around the web (it sure looked like they all got the same memo,) it appears that their demands have now filtered over into the enforcement arm of the New Master Party.
OG&E should just refuse to supply the local EPA office or its employee’s with power.
David Middleton says:
July 10, 2013 at 6:54 pm
“Note that I made an assumption that this dealt with GHG emissions. The article doesn’t state this.”
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Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.
They set the game up that way, as best as they could.
Don’t feel bad, they are pro’s.
It was a set-up, logic and/or financial responsibility never entered into their thinking.
Time to secede. If only Randy Brogden had won.
Very likely part of the New Source Review EO that Clinton signed on his way out the door and Bush was too chicken to cancel. It’s also one of he reasons older plants do not do major upgrades. Also, the incident of fining the company for failure to anticipate emissions that didn’t happen is typical. The EPA has long sought to penalize companies and has in a number of regions for several decades attempted to rewrite regulations through compliance actions. I went through that 20 years ago with the BIF rule. EPA staff can admit to perjury and commit perjury in front of an Administrative Law Judge without any penalty.
The commenters who acted surprised shouldn’t be. Being bullied by environmental agencies is nothing new. About a third of the regulators are little no nothing tyrants. Just wait until you sit in the EPSA office of regulator who is costing your company an extra million bucks a year and smile while you wait for her to finish up conducting her real estate business.
We’ve got to get more news outlets paying attention. What the people know about the people can object to, although by the sound of it, the EPA is becoming clearly seen for what it is. New political parties are needed, too.
OG&E should send a circular letter to their customers, advising them of a 100% cut in CO2 emissions, commencing on August 11, 2013; resulting in a reduction in generating capacity from a peak of 6100 MW to whatever the wind provides; perhaps 170MW; but mostly about 20MW.
If customers can’t make the 97 to 99% cut in their electricity requirements, they should contact their local Congress-critters, Senators and State government representatives to put the EPA back into their padded cells.
Failing a withdrawal of the law suit by the EPA; OG&E senior management will be cashing in the “offsets” on CO2 emissions “avoided” by that measure.