Obama’s Decrees Cause Energy Prices to “Skyrocket”
In a candid moment while running for president, Barack Obama told the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle, “under my plan…electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Last week, the Obama administration moved to make that a reality, using its rule by executive fiat to punish the coal industry. The action comes as the president is halting offshore oil drilling and threatening one state alone with millions of dollars in lost revenue. His most recent action was “unprecedented,” could kill jobs during a recession, and comes as heating oil and gasoline prices are rising.
Obama’s latest environmentalist imbroglio is his declaration of war on the coal industry. Last week, the EPA revoked the mining permit of Arch Coal’s Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, West Virginia. The EPA granted the permit in 2007. Since then, Arch Coal has complied with all of the agency’s terms and made millions of dollars of investments in the hard-hit Appalachian state.
The EPA reversed itself last week, revoking its validly granted permit and calling into question whether it would honor any of its prior obligations. Its pretext was the company’s use of mountaintop removal mining, which it called “destructive and unsustainable. However, it was known the mine would use this procedure when the EPA granted the permit four years ago.
The mine would have employed 250 people and harvested more than 40 million tons of coal, over 15 years.
Harold
ACGR's "News with Attitude" 