In 2008, Barack Obama said he would fundamentally change America, and he said he would change the energy landscape.
On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced proposed regulations for power plants. Those regulations could result in dozens of coal-fired plants being closed and that will mean huge job losses in the energy industry, according to the EPA’s own estimates.
These shocking estimates say the proposed new regulations on existing coal and natural gas power plants could result in the elimination of 20 percent of them. That makes 80,000 energy jobs will go.
Is this what Obama had in mind?
The American Action Forum (AAF) says the EPA estimate of job losses is low. They say potential job losses will be much higher. The AAF reviewed the nation’s least efficient energy plants, selected for their CO2 emitted per megawatt hour of energy generated and several other factors. They identified 93 plants using that criteria, one-fifth of the U.S. total, that are likely to be closed after the EPA regulations come into force.
Does that mean we can look forward to rolling blackouts now? How does the administration think it will replace that huge amount of energy after those plants close?
It seems the Obama administration has no plan at all.
Looking at the state of Pennsylvania, we see it is home to 13 threatened plants, the most of any state. Michigan would lose seven and Colorado and Illinois each lose six.
How do you replace those in a short time? You don’t. They are irreplaceable, and the result will be additional costs for consumers and possibly power outages.
That will be interesting in both summer and winter. look for deaths to increase in both seasons.
The EPA’s conservative estimate of the number of lost power plant jobs and coal mines is 80,000. The AAF cites a study that shows each energy job supports 3.7 additional jobs. That means the actual number of jobs at risk ranges from the EPA’s conservative 80,000 to 296,000.
Impossible to replace? That could be the understatement of the year.
By 2030, the U.S. economy could lose $27.7 billion in wages, according to AAF. The Obama administration has completely failed to address this issue. Texas apparently would suffer 36,500 job losses, the most of any state. West Virginia would lose 35,600 and Pennsylvania 18,000.
Way to go!
