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Global Warming Hysteria Wrong Again: Methane Emissions Decreasing Significantly

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Photo Credit: APRevised data from the Environmental Protection Agency now shows that methane emissions released by natural gas drilling are substantially lower than previously estimated, which undercuts claims made environmental groups that methane leaked during drilling accelerates global warming.

“We need a dramatic shift off carbon-based fuel: coal, oil and also gas,” Bill McKibbern, founder of the environmental group 350.org, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Natural gas provides at best a kind of fad diet, where a dangerously overweight patient loses a few pounds and then their weight stabilizes; instead, we need at this point a crash diet.”

“New data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may not answer all of those questions in a comprehensive fashion, but they do strongly suggest that activists’ arguments about ‘the methane problem’ for natural gas development are without merit,” according to Energy in Depth.

“They also suggest that methane emissions aren’t increasing it all. They’re decreasing, actually — even as more wells and greater production come online,” the industry-funded group added.

The EPA said that tighter pollution controls by the gas industry has allowed methane emissions to decrease substantially between 1990 and 2010 — by about 41.6 million metric tons per year on average for a total of more than 850 million metric tons overall.

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EPA Taking Aim at Auto Emissions, Sulfur In Gas

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Photo Credit: AP

Reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emissions standards on cars beginning in 2017, as the Obama administration is proposing, would come with costs as well as rewards. The cost at the pump for cleaner air across the country could be less than a penny or as high as 9 cents a gallon, depending on who is providing the estimate.

An oil industry study says the proposed rule being unveiled Friday by the administration could increase gasoline prices by 6 cents to 9 cents a gallon. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates an increase of less than a penny and an additional $130 to the cost of a vehicle in 2025.

The EPA is quick to add that the change aimed at cleaning up gasoline and automobile emissions would yield billions of dollars in health benefits by 2030 by slashing smog- and soot-forming pollution. Still, the oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats have pressed the EPA to delay the rule, citing higher costs.

Environmentalists hailed the proposal as potentially the most significant in President Barack Obama’s second term. The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60 percent and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, by expanding across the country a standard already in place in California. For states, the regulation would make it easier to comply with health-based standards for the main ingredient in smog and soot. For automakers, the regulation allows them to sell the same autos in all 50 states.

The Obama administration already has moved to clean up motor vehicles by adopting rules that will double fuel efficiency and putting in place the first standards to reduce the pollution from cars and trucks blamed for global warming.

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Obama Unveils Yet Another Measure to Jack Gasoline Prices and Kill The Economy

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Photo Credit: Reuters

The White House is planning to unveil a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency that aims to clean up gasoline and automobile emissions, a plan officials say will lead to cleaner air but also higher gas prices.

The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60 percent and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, by expanding across the country a standard already in place in California. It would go into effect in 2017.

The oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats have pressed the EPA to delay the rule, saying it would be unwise to impose such a standard while many are still struggling in a bad economy. An oil industry study says the rule could increase gasoline prices by 6 to 9 cents per gallon.

The EPA says the potential increase in gas prices would be slight, estimating the rules could increase gas prices by less than a penny per gallon and add $130 to the cost of a vehicle in 2025. Additionally, the agency argues the plan will yield billions of dollars in health benefits by slashing smog- and soot-forming pollution come 2030.

For states, the regulation will make it easier to comply with health-based standards for the main ingredient in smog and soot. For auto makers, the regulation allows them to sell the same autos in all 50 states.

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Senators: ‘Far-Left’ Group Pushes EPA To Implement Cap-And-Trade Without Congressional Approval

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Republican senators urged the Environmental Protection Agency not to participate in a “sue-and-settle” arrangement with a law school policy institute that is trying to require the agency to develop rules implementing cap-and-trade, even though Congress refused to pass the law.

“In a recent rulemaking petition, the Institute for Policy Integrity (the Institute) seeks to compel EPA rules under three separate sections of the Clean Air Act,” Marten Law’s Dustin Till explains in a post. “The Institute first argues that Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, a never-before-used provision addressing international air pollution, requires EPA to order all 50 states to modify their state-level implementation plans to address greenhouse gas emissions.”

Four senators attacked the idea today in a letter to EPA assistant administrator Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s nominee to lead the agency.

“The potential negative impact in this case is that it threatens to expand environmental regulation beyond original intent of the law and could have detrimental effects on the livelihoods of our fellow Americans that are not always understood by academia,” wrote Sen. David Vitter, R-La., Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Wyo., and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., in a letter today.

“When the price of transportation fuels increases for any reason, it is those with limited resources and fixed incomes whose livelihoods are most impacted by this added financial burden,” they added. “In recent years, we have consistently heard the term “environmental justice” as a reason for promulgating certain agency actions. We believe there also needs to be a measure of “economic justice” to ensure that Agency actions are not overly regressive and lack consideration for economic harm visited upon the very citizens these environmental laws are intended to protect.”

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Vitter: EPA Lied About Official’s Use Of Private Emails For Government Business

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, charged today that Environmental Protection Agency officials “lied” about the extent of former Region 8 Administrator James Martin’s use of private email accounts to conduct official business.

“EPA should start owning up to the facts piling up before them. Their blatant disregard for proper procedure and transparency is now being regularly exposed, and EPA’s leadership must be held accountable,” Vitter said. An EPA spokesman has been asked for a response.

Vitter’s charge comes on the eve of Sunshine Week, which begins Sunday, March 10, 2013. Sunshine Week is intended to commemorate passage of the federal Freedom of Information Act in 1966, which guarantees the public the right to obtain copies of all government documents not otherwise exempted from disclosure.

Sunshine Week coincides with the birthday of James Madison, who wrote the First Amendment and its guarantee of freedom of the independent press.

Martin resigned shortly after Vitter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, announced on Jan. 29, 2013, a joint investigation of the EPA official’s email practices.

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Gore’s Group Says Obama EPA Pick Will Fight Global Warming (+video)

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Photo Credit: dantekgeekMinutes after President Obama announced that his pick to run the EPA would be the agency’s greenhouse gas foe Gina McCarthy, former Vice President Al Gore’s climate change group heralded the pick, an indication that global warming foes are expecting her to step up the administration’s green fuel effort.

“EPA is on the frontlines of climate action. It is more important than ever that President Obama and the new EPA administrator continue to enforce laws cutting climate pollution,” said Climate Reality Project CEO Maggie Fox. “Ms. McCarthy is an ideal candidate to continue the crucial work of promoting regulatory and market-based solutions to solve the climate crisis.”

Gore is the co-founder of the project and his videos are featured on their website. The group said that it is “dedicated to unleashing a global cultural movement demanding action on the climate crisis.”

See video:

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Coal Industry Regulations Were A Laughing Matter to the EPA

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Photo Credit: AP Lisa Jackson recently left her job as EPA administrator amid an investigation into her use of alias email accounts. She apparently used those secret accounts to shield official agency business from Freedom of Information Act requests.

In one of those emails, recently obtained by a free-market think tank, an EPA employee mocked proposed coal ash regulations, joking that Jackson “knows which landfill’s leaching, She knows which pond might break, She knows they all lack liners, Close ’em down, for goodness sake!”

The Competitive Enterprise Institute says it has now received thousands of heavily redacted emails sent by or to Jackson and her email alias, Richard Windsor.

(CEI sued the EPA to force compliance with its FOIA requests related to the EPA’s coal policies. The second batch of emails was released three hours after most federal offices had closed on Feb. 15 for the holiday weekend.)

According to CEI, “nearly 95 percent of the correspondence from the administrator and more than 80 percent of the email sent to ‘Richard Windsor’ – excluding news stories available to the public – were redacted (blacked out), despite claims by President Obama his was the most transparent administration ever.”

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Acting EPA Head, Regional Official Ensnared In Windsorgate Email Scandal

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner Newly disclosed documents show the acting head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used a private email account to conduct official business, the same practice that contributed to the downfall of his predecessor.

Bob Perciasepe, acting administrator of the EPA, sent at least one business email using a personal account in July 2010, according to a trove of more than 1,200 pages of documents released Friday by the agency under court order.

While the email merely forwarded an article about the agency, it shows that Perciasepe was using a private account for official business, an apparent violation of the federal transparency laws and regulations that require official email accounts to be used on government matters.

Failing to do so could result in the illegal emails not being produced in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

The latest email release from EPA also shows that Perciasepe was communicating with “Richard Windsor,” the phony name used by former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to shield official emails from public release under the FOIA.

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EPA Corruption and Scandal

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photo credit: wallygThe EPA and Ms. Lisa Jackson, its chief, have committed extensive violations of law that should receive in-depth scrutiny from Congress, law enforcement and the American people. Yes the Obama administration has yet another serious scandal on their hands. The scandal features a fantasy administrator, ‘Richard Windsor’, and ‘his’ email account. The account was established and used by Ms. Jackson to camouflage controversial EPA processes, discussions, decisions and accountability. To date the known evidence suggests violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), mail and wire fraud laws. Additionally it surfaces another example of the Obama administration’s epidemic chicanery with the law, Congress and the Constitution and another failure to keep faith with the American people.

Upon closer inspection the EPA like the GSA and other Obama administration agencies, demonstrates a lack of managerial/administrative control. It also exhibited a culture of obfuscation, malfeasance and corruption that did not blossom overnight. And like other Obama scandals, the mainstream media has again decided to cover it with their much practiced three monkey act.

For perspective a little recent history is in order. Lisa Jackson, who is departing the EPA, stated in November of 2011 that “…What EPA’s role is to do is to level the playing field so that pollution costs are not exported to the population but rather companies have to look at pollution potential of any fuel or any process or any plant or utility when their making investment decisions.”

Simply translated Ms. Jackson makes clear that her job and the EPA’s are to hurt companies/industries that produce energy counter to the wishes of the Obama administration (and the left’s agenda). Ms. Jackson also demonstrates a very low economic IQ, since higher costs incurred by energy companies will be passed to end users/consumers.

Coupling her statement with President Obama’s pronouncement of a year ago, i.e. “Where Congress is not willing to act, we’re going to go ahead and do it ourselves”… exposes his strategy to “legislate” by regulation and executive order (with Jackson and the heads of other agencies helping). Although Obama indicated it would be “nice” to work with Congress, his intentions are to evade the two centuries-old legislative process of the Constitution and impose his will on all Americans. The EPA under Jackson has become a key bludgeon in this political and ideological power grab and has used illegal methods in the effort.

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Chicago-Style Diplomacy: Obama May Require Carbon Tax of Canada for Approval of Keystone Pipeline

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Photo Credit: Bloomberg Hello Canada! Are you ready — ready for a new national tax on carbon that will ding pocketbooks across the country? My bet is that a new carbon tax is coming, made almost inevitable by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s full-bore push to secure Washington’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

For early clues on the carbon tax/Keystone trade-off, tune in Tuesday night to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. As the president speaks, he will be alert to the chorus of Hollywood stars, environmental activists, editorial writers and industry leaders who are pushing for him to make the biggest climate-change decision he can possibly make: Impose a carbon tax.

It is time Canadians became aware of the giant trap being set in Washington over Keystone. The short version is this: The president approves Keystone, greatly expanding the flow of Canadian oil sands production into the United States. In return, however, Canada has no choice but to accept a carbon tax at home as part of a grand bargain.

I first mentioned the likely Obama pipelines-for-taxes strategy in comments at the annual Financial Post forecast luncheon at the New Year. “I see new taxes coming in the United States, including an energy or carbon tax, to try to cover the deficits. The new energy tax would serve as partial cover for President Obama’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.”

That Mr. Obama might offer some kind of carbon tax as a carrot to environmentalists and climate activists opposed to Keystone has since emerged as more than plausible. Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel recently outlined how the president might demand a carbon tax in return for approval of energy projects, including Keystone. Getting a carbon tax through Congress looks tricky. But Ms. Strassel reported that California Senator Barbara Boxer outlined how a carbon tax could be imposed administratively through the Environmental Protection Agency.

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