Perry Releases Energy Plan
Texas Governor Rick Perry on 14th October gave a major speech on energy policy at a steel plant near Pittsburgh. His campaign also released an energy policy white paper that spells out the details of Perry’s policy commitments. In short, Perry as President promises to increase oil and gas production quickly and substantially on federal lands and offshore areas; block or repeal all the Obama Administration’s new Clean Air Act regulations, including regulation of greenhouse gas emissions; radically downsize the Environmental Protection Agency and turn local environmental issues over to the States; stop allowing environmental law to be made by settling lawsuits with environmental pressure groups with consent decrees; and eliminate all federal energy mandates and subsidies. Perry claims that his plan will provide a major boost to economic growth and create 1.2 million new jobs. Looking over the plan, my guess is that 1.2 million jobs is a lowball figure if his proposals were fully implemented.
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Former Senator Malcolm Wallop died on Wednesday, September 14, after a debilitating illness that had confined him to his home near Big Horn, Wyoming for several years. He is survived by his wife, Isabel, and four children and their families.
Malcolm was a hero of mine long before I knew him, and so it was a great privilege to work for him after he retired from the Senate in 1995 and to become his friend. After I worked for Malcolm and got to know him, I admired him even more. I loved working for him, as I expect all of his Senate staffers did. He was unfailingly polite and considerate, intellectually engaging, and entirely positive. Malcolm had a healthy sense of his own worth, but entirely lacked the swollen head that afflicts many Senators.
When Malcolm defeated a Democratic incumbent in 1976 (not a good year for Republicans), he came to Washington as an uncompromising Cold Warrior, but as somewhat moderate on many domestic issues. While many conservatives tend to drift toward the center after a few years in Washington (which is variously described as growing in office or selling out), he was so appalled by how Washington works that he rapidly became a hardcore conservative across the board. He joined an extraordinary group of mostly Western conservatives in the Senate, a group which included Bill Armstrong, Steve Symms, Paul Laxalt, Phil Gramm, and Jesse Helms.
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Sen. Inhofe Calls on EPA To Drop Proposed Ozone Rule
Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Friday asked the Environmental Protection Agency to drop its plans for a new Clean Air Act ozone rule. Inhofe also sent a letter to the EPA’s Inspector General requesting him to investigate whether the EPA’s Clean Air Science Advisory Committee is improperly constituted and has acted improperly.
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The Bright Side of the Debt Ceiling Deal
Elana Schor in Greenwire (reprinted by the New York Times here) on Thursday reported that the debt ceiling deal still being worked out between House Republicans and Senate Democrats will almost certainly cut funding drastically for years to come for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of the Interior and Energy. Schor quotes a number of Democrats who oppose cutting spending on environmental programs, but doesn’t quote anyone on the obvious point: the federal government is broke and isn’t going to be able to afford a lot of things for many years.
While we will have to wait to see how severe the cuts will be, the Fiscal Year 2012 Interior and EPA Appropriations bill is still being debated on the House floor. According to Schor, environmental pressure groups have had little time to focus on the debt ceiling debate because they have been working overtime to try to undo some of the 38 or so riders in the appropriations bill that put limits on EPA and Interior. At the same time, Republicans are trying to add more riders to stop implementation of new regulations proposed by the Obama Administration.
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Last week I wrote about the brave automakers who were taking out radio ads opposing the Obama Administration’s proposal to raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (or CAFE) standards for new cars and light trucks to 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025. This week I must report that thirteen automakers signed on to a 54.5 miles per gallon CAFE standard by 2025. President Obama announced the deal on Friday.
My CEI colleague Marlo Lewis discusses this insanity here. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Tex.), Chairman of the House Science Committee, sent out a press release last night making the point that CEI’s Sam Kazman has made for decades: CAFE kills. Kazman makes the point again here.
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Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City and billionaire founder of the Bloomberg financial news service, has announced that he is giving $50 million to the Sierra Club for their Beyond Coal campaign. The gift over four years from Bloomberg’s charitable foundation will allow the Sierra Club to double their Beyond Coal staff to 200 and expand their efforts from 15 to 45 States.
The Sierra Club takes credit for stopping 153 new coal-fired power plants. Now, they will be able to campaign to shut down existing plants. Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg is happy to make billions of dollars supplying financial news to business and industry, but doesn’t care about restoring economic growth or about out-of-work people struggling to pay their electric bills and keep the lights on.
Bill Introduced To Block EU from Forcing U.S. Airlines into Cap-and-Trade Scheme
Representative John L. Mica, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has introduced a bill with strong bipartisan support that would prohibit U. S. airlines from taking part in the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. The bill is an attempt to block the European Union from their latest attempt to extend their cap-and-trade scheme beyond the EU.
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The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has started running radio ads complaining about the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (or CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks to 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025. According to the Detroit Free Press, the sixty-second ads “feature an ominous voice warning ‘after tough times, today’s auto industry is on the road to economic recovery,’ but that fuel economy rules ‘threatens that progress’ –leading to less choice, higher prices, job losses, and an ‘electric vehicle mandate.’
This is the first sign that the auto industry is finally waking up to the reality that their cozy 2007 deal on CAFE isn’t such a good deal after all. CAFE standards are scheduled to increase to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.
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House Votes To Block the Light Bulb Ban
The House on Friday passed the Energy and Water Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2012. Included was an amendment adopted on a voice vote that would block the ban on standard incandescent light bulbs that is currently scheduled to start going into effect on January 1, 2012. The amendment was offered by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Tex.).
On Tuesday, the House failed to pass a stand-alone bill sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), H. R. 2417, that would repeal the ban permanently. The vote on the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act was 233 to 193, but failed because it was brought to the floor under a special, expedited procedure that requires a two-thirds majority. Ten Republicans voted No, but more surprisingly only five Democrats voted Yes. Democratic support for repealing the light bulb ban collapsed when Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and then the White House cracked the whip.
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House Moves To Block EPA Greenhouse Gas Regulations
The House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its funding bill for Fiscal Year 2012 on Thursday. Under Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the subcommittee voted to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 18 percent.
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