Res 37 Toxic Air Bill by Sen J.Inhofe

I am writing you today in vehement opposition to the toxic air bill offered by Senator James Inhofe, S.J. Res 37.

The Online Petition I signed via the Environment Defense Action Fund is listed to follow and emailed to Sen R.Blunt and Sen C.McCaskill.

• My notes to Dirty Oil Roy Blunt are at the bottom of the Post.

This bill would use the obscure Congressional Review Act to block EPA's new emission standards for hazardous mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants. If enacted, this bill would also forever prohibit the EPA from adopting substantially similar clean air standards in the future.

These standards, which the 1990 Clean Air Act specifically authorizes, have been in the works for more than two decades. They will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths every year and protect our kids from dangerous exposure to toxic mercury pollution, which can cause brain damage in infants and young children.

They will also save the American economy tens of billions of dollars in avoided health costs while likely leading to the creation of 117,000 jobs installing pollution control technologies between now and 2015.

Last year, more than 800,000 Americans submitted public comments in support of this rule. But now, a few of America's largest corporate utilities have launched an aggressive campaign to block these standards. And Sen. Inhofe's toxic air bill would do just that.

Please stand up for the health and safety of our kids and communities and reject the Inhofe bill.

Please take action today. Help us stop the Inhofe toxic air bill, which would wipe the EPA's life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards off the books and punch a huge hole through our clean air protections.

My Notes:

Mr Blunt in an email I received yesterday from you.  You wrote:

"Job creators in Missouri tell me that overreaching new regulations coming out of the Environmental Protection Agency are one of the biggest obstacles to getting our economy back on track.  Regulations like these threaten to make the cost of electric power skyrocket for most Americans and will sack families and workers with new costs, reducing their disposal income and ultimately threatening their standard of living."  

I'd like to point out the simple fact that-

"All the jobs in the world won't help when Pollution kills the world."  

As you know here in St Louis- Ameren UE (Union Electric) uses Coal for producing our Electricity.  This pollution from Coal Fired Power Plants is a leading cause of Asthma and Cancer.  WebMD just reported last week that St Louis is Number 7 on the list  of leading cities with Asthma Problems.

"The study also points out that recent statistics indicate asthma causes more than 3,300 deaths annually in the U.S. and is a factor in another 7,000."  

It  would seem to me the more healthy people there are working equals more people paying taxes- ie: Income for the US Government.

If you are serious about creating jobs consider this: Energy Efficiency and Renewable "Non Polluting" Energy.

Steve Kidwell, Ameren Missouri Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, said:

"If we went after the potential that we've seen in our own study,  we wouldn't have to build another power plant for 20 years, and we could retire Meramec, and we'd be OK.  But we'd lose  $30 million a year. And we just can't do that. It's that simple."

 (This was a St Louis Post Dispatch Article that talked about making homes energy efficient through weatherization.)

On another note about Energy Efficiency and Nuclear Energy- I'd like to share this info:

"For 1/2 the cost of replacing one nuclear power plant, we can retrofit 1,600,000 homes for "Energy Efficiency" and create 220,000 new jobs- which is 90 times more jobs than you'd get from a power plant replacement."  

ie: how much taxes that are needed for the USA would come from the 220,000 employees?

So basically I'm asking you to do the right thing and leave the EPA alone as the USA is making strides to curb its energy use which reduces the Pollutants in the Air, Land, and Water.

Through the various reporting agencies on Political Contributions. (1 & 2) I know you receive the bulk of your money from Big Oil, Big Coal, and Big Business.  In the future who will be left to buy their products if the population is killed off from Fossil Fuel Pollution.  I'm not even going to mention the fact that we can reduce our reliance on Foreign Oil (which is the root cause of the ongoing wars in the Middle East.  ie: if they don't have any money they cant fight us).

Thank you, looking forward to your Reply.

Sincerely,
Scotty

Please take action today. 

Help us stop the Inhofe toxic air bill, which would wipe the EPA's life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards off the books and punch a huge hole through our clean air protections.

Thank you for stopping by St Louis Renewable Energy. Feel free to comment in the section below or contact Scotty for any Home Improvement Projects or Energy Reducing Needs and Scotty, Scotts Contracting will respond ASAP. Company Web Address: http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com

Tracking two important EPA pollution rules

Tracking two important EPA pollution rules

November 3rd, 2011 › Climate Action, Coal › Josh Galperin, Esq. ›

In the past few weeks, new information has become publicly available about two important pending rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One rule would set the first-ever, national standards for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Know as the greenhouse gas New Source Performance Standard (GHG NSPS) rule, EPA announced on October 29 that it would undergo further delay before publication. This delay is the third such delay since the GHG NSPS rule was originally due last summer. But this time, the delay is not entirely bad news. Environmental groups and states have agreed to extend the deadline to November 30, 2011. The groups agreed to the delay in a letter sent to the Justice Department and said in the letter that this was reasonable, “In light of the progress made to date.”

EPA proposed another important rule in March of this year. This rule, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics rule or Mercury MACT rule, will set national emission standards for mercury and other hazardous air pollution from coal-fired power plants. EPA also recently announced a new date for finalization of the Mercury MACT rule. Previously, the deadline for the rule was November 16, but EPA now plans to release the final rule on December 16. Once again, this is seen as a generally positive development since it sets a date certain in the very near future. Moreover, utilities and some states were pushing to have the rule delayed by a full year, a proposition that the federal court explicitly rejected.

This minor delay is really a big win against those who are trying to push the rule indefinitely into the future. As currently proposed, the mercury rule will prevent 91 percent of mercury in coal burned at power plants from being released to the air, which will have a significant impact on human health and the environment. Given that the Southeast is home to almost 300 coal units that have collectivelyemitted over 20,000 pounds of mercury into the air in a single year, this rule would be a huge step forward in cleaning up the air and water in numerous states. Meanwhile the GHG NSPS rule would be a crucial first step in reducing our contribution to global climate change.

Together, these two policies represent significant steps forward in protecting human health and the environment. If these minor delays provide EPA with needed time or help to deflect unwarranted criticism, then it is a small price to pay.

Tracking two important EPA pollution rules

MO Sen Roy Blunt votes for Big Oil and Not the Taxpayers

		Sen. Roy Blunt took lots of oil money. And then voted to let Big Oil keep taking our money. Hold Sen. Roy Blunt accountable for the vote against ending oil subsidies. Clicking here will add your name to this petition to your Senator: You should be ashamed of your vote to protect Big Oil's tax breaks at the expense of American taxpayers. You've accepted an astonishing amount of campaign money from oil companies. I urge you to stop putting oil profits and campaign contributions ahead of the American people. Dear Friend, Last night, 48 Senators, including Sen. Roy Blunt, put Big Oil before the American people and helped defeat a bill that would have ended tax breaks for the five biggest oil companies.1 How could anyone vote against a bill that would have kept $21 billion of American taxpayers' money out of the pockets of cash-rich oil companies? One big reason is oil money in our political process. A lot of it. Oil and gas companies spent $39.5 million lobbying congress in just the first quarter of this year,2 and have donated tens of millions of dollars directly to the political campaigns of current Senators, including $697,998 to Sen. Roy Blunt.3 Tell Sen. Roy Blunt: Stop putting oil company profits and campaign contributions ahead of the American people. Click here to automatically sign the petition. In all, three Democrats joined all but two Senate Republicans to protect Big Oil tax breaks that even a former Shell CEO said weren't needed.4 But make no mistake. Even though we didn't get the 60 votes required for passage, our pressure to end oil subsidies is already working. More and more legislators are acting defensive about their support of Big Oil over the American people. In February, similar legislation to repeal some oil subsidies got only 44 votes. Yesterday, we got 52 votes. That comes after CREDO Action members sent more than 225,000 petitions to the Senate and made more than 1,000 calls yesterday to 11 key Senators, six of whom flipped their position and voted to end tax breaks to Big Oil. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said yesterday that despite this defeat, he will continue to push for ending oil subsides as part of negotiations on the budget and to raise the debt ceiling.5 We need to keep the pressure on. And one key to breaking Big Oil's grasp on our legislators is letting Congress know that we know about the millions of dollars that Big Oil has given them — including the $697,998 to Sen. Roy Blunt. Let's make sure that voting to protect oil company profits doesn't go unanswered by those of us who actually pay the price. Tell Sen. Roy Blunt: Stop putting oil company profits and campaign contributions ahead of the American people. Click here to automatically sign the petition. Thank you for taking action. Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets P.S. — Want to find out more about the Big Oil money going to our elected officials? Our friends at the Dirty Energy Money campaign have the scoop. Click here to see how much dirty energy money your Senators and other elected officials have taken. 1. "Senate GOP Votes Down Bill To End Big Oil Subsidies," Huffington Post, May 17, 2011 2. "Senators Opposing End of Oil Subsidies Received Five Times More in Big Oil Campaign Cash," Oil Change International, May 17, 2011 3. Dirty Energy Money campaign data 4. "Ex-Shell CEO Says Big Oil Can Live Without Subsidies ," National Journal, February 11, 2011 5. "Senate rejects bill to cut oil tax breaks," The Hill, May 17, 2011 Share on Facebook Post to your feed wall Tweet this Post to Twitter

Koch Brothers-Bad?More Drasdardly Deeds Exposed

...donated directly to 62 of the 87 members of the House GOP freshman class...and to 12 of the new members of the U.S. Senate.

You Thought the Koch Brothers Were Bad? Turns Out They're Even Worse Than You Thought

Charles and David Koch's reach into virtually every aspect of political, economic and physical life on the planet is probably greater than you thought possible.

April 5, 2011 |

You knew they were big. You knew they were evil. From the union-busting actions of their minions in Wisconsin and Ohio to their war on health-care reform, to their assault on the environment and their attacks on the science of climatology, Charles and David Koch have earned their place as the focus of progressives' scrutiny in the age of the Tea Party -- the destructive and regressive movement they bankroll. But a new report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund shows that, as bad as you thought the Kochs were, they're actually worse. And their reach into virtually every aspect of political, economic and physical life on the planet is probably greater than you thought possible.

In The Koch Brothers: What You Need to Know About the Financiers of the Radical Right, author Tony Carrk, policy director of the CAP Action War Room, lays out a case that is breathtaking in its scope, showing how the Koch brothers are using their billions with the aim of reshaping the global economic system in such a way as to enrich themselves and their heirs at the expense of most other inhabitants of the planet.

While much of the report will have a familiar ring (especially to readers of AlterNet, and CAP Action's own ThinkProgress), The Koch Brothers also addresses elements of the Koch agenda far beyond the well-trodden turf of Americans for Prosperity's organizing against health-care reform or the pollution rap against Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held corporation in the United States, which the billionaire brothers command.

The Kochs and the Global Economy

Consider, for instance, the Kochs' role in the financial business. You thought Koch Industries was just a high-polluting oil-and-gas-based conglomerate? Add in the part played on Wall Street by Koch Supply & Trading, and the depth of the Koch imprint on the economy is revealed. From Carrk's report:

First, the Koch brothers fought efforts to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more oversight over speculative trading, whereby companies can artificially inflate prices on things such as oil, during the Wall Street reform debate. One of the Koch companies—Koch Supply & Trading—takes part in oil and derivatives trading. We should point out that oil speculation has reached an all-time high at the same time gas prices continue to skyrocket.

Then look at a recent position pushed by Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party-allied astroturf group founded and funded by David Koch (and whose sibling organization, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, he chairs):

Similarly, Americans for Prosperity supports the House continuing resolution that cuts spending by $61 billion. Those cuts would reduce the budget for the CFTC by one-third. Make no mistake: Gutting the CFTC or limiting its authority would be a boon to Wall Street businesses that use complex financial instruments. But while the result is more profits for oil companies, it means everyone else pays more at the pump.

Okay, now have a look at the Kochs' recent direct contributions to political candidates:

The Kochs donated directly to 62 of the 87 members of the House GOP freshman class...and to 12 of the new members of the U.S. Senate.

No wonder, then, how that continuing resolution -- the means for funding the government when a budget has not been passed into law -- managed to get through the House. (It was subsequently rejected by the Senate, setting the stage for a possible shutdown of the government at the end of this week.) Those 62 Koch-backed freshmen are essentially driving the agenda of the House Republicans, because together they form a large enough bloc to prevent House Speaker John Boehner from amassing a majority on any piece of legislation, should they choose to, despite the 2010 Republican victories that handed control of the House to the GOP.

Cross Posted