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Obama’s War on Coal has already taken a remarkable toll on coal-fired power plants in America.

Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a shocking drop in power sector coal consumption in the first quarter of 2012. Coal-fired power plants are now generating just 36 percent of U.S. electricity, versus 44.6 percent just one year ago.

It’s the result of an unprecedented regulatory assault on coal that will leave us all much poorer.

Last week PJM Interconnection, the company that operates the electric grid for 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) held its 2015 capacity auction. These are the first real, market prices that take Obama’s most recent anti-coal regulations into account, and they prove that he is keeping his 2008 campaign promise to make electricity prices “necessarily skyrocket.”

The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity – almost all natural gas – was $136 per megawatt. That’s eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt.

Why the massive price increases? Andy Ott from PJM stated the obvious: “Capacity prices were higher than last year's because of retirements of existing coal-fired generation resulting largely from environmental regulations which go into effect in 2015.” Northern Ohio is suffering from more forced coal-plant retirements than the rest of the region, hence the even higher price.

These are not computer models or projections or estimates. These are the actual prices that electric distributors have agreed to pay for new capacity. The costs will be passed on to consumers at the retail level.

House Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) aptly explained: “The PJM auction forecasts a dim future where Americans will be paying more to keep the lights on. We are seeing more and more coal plants fall victim to EPA’s destructive regulatory agenda, and as a result, we are seeing more job losses and higher electricity prices.”

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/05/22/obamas-war-on-coal-hits-your-electric-bill/print#ixzz1vdALNXOI

Our Deteriorating Environment

Unfortunately, in many heavily industrialized parts of North America, pure air has become a thing of the past, as it has been replaced by choking, irritating, eye-burning smog. Originally coined as a contraction of the words smoky fog, smog has become the popular term for all types of air pollution. Most air pollution originates from industrial activities, automobile exhausts, burning trash and refuse, and so on. It can literally kill. In December 1952, for example, London, England, was blanketed for five days with a killer smog. Medical experts estimate that that single episode caused four thousand deaths from respiratory illnesses.

Sulfur from industrial processing and burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline is one of the most poisonous components of smog. In the form of sulfur dioxide, it can cause marked respiratory distress, with symptoms of bronchitis, emphysema, coughing, hoarseness, irritated nasal and bronchial passages, and smarting eyes. What’s worse, sulfur dioxide can be oxidized to sulfur trioxide and then combined with the water in fog to produce sulfuric acid, one of the most powerfully corrosive agents known.

Action is being taken at all levels of government to counteract pollution. More and more industries are recognizing their corporate responsibility to protect the environment. Most important, ordinary citizens have become concerned and are demanding an end to the pillage and exploitation of our environment. To be effective, action by individuals, industry, and government to control and limit pollution must consider the basic causes of the problem.

To be effective, action by individuals, industry, and government to control and limit pollution must consider the basic causes of the problem

bcspace wrote:Is that your token white boy Eric?

bcspace wrote:

To be effective, action by individuals, industry, and government to control and limit pollution must consider the basic causes of the problem

Such as the fact that AGW is not science I agree.