Electrifying, even.
It’s said that the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. People buy electric cars for many reasons- saving the environment and cost savings versus the price of gas are usually the most common. Soon they are going to find themselves in fiscal hell thanks to Barack Obama. And that’s the good news.
It’s no secret that Barack Obama has declared war on coal. He promised us he’d bankrupt the coal industry.
Energy: Keeping a campaign vow to bankrupt the industry, the administration revokes the permit for an approved, working coal mine in West Virginia. Guess those electric cars will have to get their energy elsewhere.
We and others have warned that in the wake of November’s “shellacking,” the Obama administration would attempt to implement its agenda through regulations and rule making. As West Virginia’s coal industry has found, it matters not even if you follow the rules. In pursuit of this agenda, the rules can be changed on the fly.
The Environmental Protection Agency has revoked the coal mining permit for Arch Coal’s Spruce Mine No. 1 in West Virginia’s Logan County. The permit was issued four years ago and since then Arch Coal, which provides 16% of America’s coal supply, has followed every jot and tittle of the rules it was to operate under.
After Arch invested $250 million in the mountaintop mining operation, it will be shut down.
Of course that means lost jobs:
When fully operational, it would have employed 215 miners directly, with another 300 jobs in support services. These are, pun intended, “shovel-ready” jobs.
Someone thinks jobs aren’t needed in this country.
The EPA slammed Texas with new sulfur dioxide rules and allowed Texas all of six months to comply. Inability to meet the deadlines could result in the loss of 1500 jobs, the closure of six power plants and rolling blackouts.
To comply with EPA regulations American Electric Power will close five power plants, retiring 6,000 megawatts of power.
With no replacement in sight.
AEP will also spend $6-18 billion to further comply with the EPA. The cost of electricity could go up as much as 35% and cost 600 jobs.
One could expect that were Barack Obama re-elected, all coal-fired power plants would be forced to shut down. That’s 60,000 jobs alone gone in West Virginia.
Coal power provides 50% of the nation’s energy. Solar, wind and hydrothermal aren’t going to cut it as replacements.
Obama promised us that he’d make the cost of electricity for your electric car skyrocket.
And that’s just for starters.
Gasoline taxes bring in $38 billion per year in federal revenue and $78 billion in state revenue. That money is used to maintain the roads.
If everyone switches to electric vehicles, how is that money going to be replaced?
Whoops!
Already feeling the pinch, three states were considering fees on electric vehicles to replace the shortfall. One proposal was called VMT, or Vehicle Miles Traveled. A chip would be installed in your electric car and you would be assessed on the total miles you traveled. Authorities would also be able to track your every move.
The measure died in Washington, but remains alive elsewhere.
Barack Obama has said that there will be one million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015. Maybe- but if electric car owners were looking to save money, they have a huge shock waiting for them. Their cost savings are going to vanish as they cough up fees and pay much more for electricity. And they may find themselves scrambling to charge their cars in between rolling blackouts.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
When he carried on about Wealth Redistribution like the Marxists of the past, all those Democrat voters and Independents thought they would be getting some major change in their pockets from the wealthy. They didn’t realize their money would be going to poverty stricken dictators and war lords around the world. They didn’t really think he would ask his cronies to redistribute their wealth, that is the only humor left in this tragedy; those who expected a handout will soon come to know Third World poverty first hand, after their wealth leaves the country forever. LOL! Stupid is its own reward.
Obama and his cohorts are the strongest arguements yet for retro-active abortions- these are true traitors who are actively seeking to wreck our country economically- The Volt- a car with the driving range of a good day’s walk, and top speed is half the speed of smell- this is an improvement?
It would be one thing if we had drilling and mining and coal plants, nuke plants, and a healthy domestic oil and gas industry WHILE we worked on alternative energy possibilities, but the Rezident is too determined to cause our country to fail, and that is TREASON, plain and simple.
Breaking news: EPA vetoes Spruce Mine permit, January 13, 2011:
Study Links Mountaintop Removal to 60,000 Additional Cancer Cases
Birth Defects Study Adds Urgency to Mountaintop Removal Health Concerns
The first comprehensive study concerning the effects of mountaintop removal mining was released early this year: MTR impacts ‘pervasive and irreversible’ January 7, 2010:
I guess it’s all a question of priorities.
When the EPA hit Texas with the rules, it was estimated it would require at least three years to get everything installed in order to comply. Yet they were given 6 months. That is proof it was ideology and and retaliation driving the decision.
The EPA has shown itself to be bitterly partisan and willing to ignore science, pervert science, or selectively consider science as necessary to reach the conclusions they want to reach. This doesn’t happen all of the time, and it doesn’t necessarily apply to every rule, regulation, or program they run. But it does mean that they can’t be trusted to be the final word in anything. Chevron deference my ass! (Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984))
A republican president created the EPA by executive order.
The environment was pretty much going to hell at that point in time. We currently have 1,290 superfund sites because of what happens without aggressive pro-environment regulation and enforcement.
@Greg:
“Self-Reported Cancer Rates in Two Rural Areas of West Virginia with and Without Mountaintop Coal Mining”
Self-reported.
In the Journal of Community Health: The Publication for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
Here is another source of self-reported events:
http://theprophetspeaks.com/
@Greg:
So you’re a big fan of Nixon?
@drjohn, #7:
Self-reported, as in answering a question such as Has anyone in your household been diagnosed with or treated for cancer? That seems like the sort of straightforward question that most people can answer with a high rate of accuracy.
@drjohn, #8:
I do look back on him with more compassion than I once felt. It probably wasn’t easy being Nixon.
@Greg:
Like I said, Greg, the pathway to hell…..
Like most Fed. Government agencies the EPA is out of control with power and driven by environmental activists politics. Decisions are made without regard to economic impact. The prog mentality of “if we can save only one life it will be worth the cost” and yet they have killed millions of black babies since 10/73 Roe vs. Wade. Over 13.000,000 have been slaughtered. Now they are they are pushing electric cars like the volt. They want you the people to get into a spam can with wheels and match your mass against the other behemoths on the road. Many of these government bureaucracies are systemically infected with ecowineeies who’s goal in life is to restrict progress and reduce the US to a third world country. If they had their way the population would be forced to rely on subsistence farming. Of course like all stupid prog ideas the laws of untended consequences, most of the populations of large cities would starve in 3 months. Now depending on the cities this could be a good thing.
There’s a brand new nickname for Obama.
First time I’ve seen it is today:
“Fresh Prince of Hot Air.”
Costco, the membership warehouse-club chain, was an early leader in offering electric-vehicle charging to its customers, setting an example followed by other retailers, including Best Buy and Walgreen.
By 2006, Costco had installed 90 chargers at 64 stores, mostly in California but also some in Arizona, New York and Georgia.
Even after General Motors crushed its EV1 battery cars, the Costco chargers stayed in place.
Yet just as plug-in cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt enter the market, Costco is reversing course and pulling its chargers out of the ground, explaining that customers do not use them.
More at the NYTimes.
So, I guess the road and highway money is safe…..for now.
@Greg:
This reminds of the Erin Brockovich nonsense. The same exposure causes a million kinds of cancer instead of prevalence of a certain type of disease?
Uh uh.
“We’re going to save your life while we deprive you of your means of living. Not to worry, we’ll furnish you with a subsistence living. Then you can take the lives of your wife and family because of depression. We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”
Erin sure made a big sum of money off of that, didn’t she? Too bad for everyone that it all turned out to be total fabrication.
@drjohn:
Dr John, it reminded me of that awful Lancet study in Iraq.
The scientists were too scared to actually go out and do a scientific grid study with their questions.
So they trusted their Iraqi goffers.
And what science did those jerks understand?
Zilch.
So, despite the order to go here, then there, then yet another place and get X many people to answer the questions, these jerks answered the questions themselves, asked their immediate families and neighbors.
Safety first.
So, when asked ”Do you know of anyone who has been injured or killed during the Allied operation?” each death and each injury multiplied a thousand-fold.
Even Lancet finally repudiated the “study.”
But before that happened the Left used the false numbers over and over and over again.
Heck!
I STILL hear from people who say they believe those numbers!
And on a more serious note, I just read a quote in Forbes magazine attributed to General (Vinegar Joe) Stillwell.
“The higher a monkey climes, the more you can see is behind”.
So, General ODumbo is going to wipe out coal….and pump some wind projects to his GE buddies.
At 20 cents per KwH wholesale, plus an average 6 cents KwH for delivery charges, your energy bill is going to increase too.
F#@$#$^ Azz$%$.
If I hear Matt Damon pump Obama as the messiah one more time, I’m going to go all Jason Bourne on his azz.
Response from the companies and the state governments in WV and TX? “Just say no.” Refuse to play. Continue operating. Continuing mining. Continue generating electricity. Dare the EPA to take you to court. If the law no longer applies to the EPA, why pray tell ought it apply to anyone else? Cheers –
So, coming down the pike is more Liberties being (taxed /taken) away? Why don’t they get rid of the millions living here illegally….using our services….not paying into the system….would that not create a lesser demand for all these things…..AND, Start taxing those who make 18,000 -29,000 a year….
Quite frankly, I really don’t like this redistribution….it’s really hurting a lot of Americans…
Many Americans already work 3-4 days JUST FOR THE EFFING GOVERNMENT. THEN they work (depending their car tank size) at LEAST 2 – 5 hours a day just to fill up their GAS TANK…..
ENOUGH ALREADY!! And this doesn’t even cover all the other STATE/FEDERAL TAXES the Government STEALS from US….. Ughhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another taxpayer-backed ”green” company Obama supported with OUR tax dollars has filed Chapter 11.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110823/BIZ/108230330
I bet those Intel guys had a lot of fun on our dime before they closed the doors.
@Hard Right:
I used to build coal fired power plants as an instrumentation engineer in my younger days and I know first-hand that you can’t just buy large pollution control equipment at your local Home Depot, truck it in, and install it. Hell, just the permits from the state utility commission would take years to obtain. Then engineers have to design the equipment, and rework entire plant control systems to compensate for the increased back pressure. It’s a major project.
Three years is doable, but optimistic. Ten years is probably more realistic these days.
Liberals like Greg think electricity comes from walls.
Is in it illegal to allow the illegals to arrive and stay in and decide to check them one by one to over rule the decision of The CONGRESS to deport them,
Is the PRESIDENT can do anything nothing can stop him, nobody can accuse him of any actions
he is doing against the people to prevent them to work, is in that enough to call him for
and make him accountable to the AMERICANS, he is suppose to serve,
where are the one to apply the law, who where when?
for a leader to act as he is above the law. making trouble with his law to the people, is call what name?
@John Cooper:
The Lower Colorado River Authority retrofitted one of its power plants to burn clean coal. It reduced emitions by 97%. But it took almost four years. And that is with 12 hour crews working 13 on and 1 off. My neighbor, originally from Alabama, was working on it and he was never home. LCRA also build a wind farm but found it so expensive to maintain they sold it to FL&P and were darn glad to get rid of it because it would have had to increase power rates to its service area just to pay for the thing.
Now, it is true that the EPA decided to violate the Clean Air Act by imposing new rules and regulations on power plants but when it came to Texas, those rules were bumped up by almost a year. Greg Abbott, one of the most brilliant Attorneys General in the U.S., and AG of Texas, has now sued the EPA and the case is in court.
Forget electric cars. It’s going to be general rolling brownouts and blackouts. People are not going to have electricity to run their air conditioning and heating systems. Companies are going to shut down for lack of electricity. Some people will lose their jobs. Some are going to die.
The EPA is just making s*** up at the direction of the White House. NOBODY VOTED FOR THIS. OUR REPRESENTATIVES WERE BYPASSED BY EXECUTIVE FIAT. IT’S ILLEGAL. The states should refuse to comply, and mobilize the National Guard to protect their electric power plants if they have to. It’s time.
@Greg: MSNBC headline: 2012 “Worst winter in history on the Eastern Seaboard, Hundreds of thousands die from cold due to lack of electricity.” Old proverb, be careful what you wish for, it may come true. MSNBC headline 2013 ” Hottest summer following horrible winter, thousands die from heat due to blackouts.” President Palin instructs Attorney General to investigate at the same time that Speaker of the House Ryan and Senate Majority Leader West start investigations. Legislation reverses EPA regulations and reduceds funding.
@Greg, it’s always cancer, emissions or AGW climate change. Why don’t you lib/progs pick a priority?
Oh yes… you have. Tho you don’t seem to recognize it. It’s about control, money, and science fiction idiots.
drj… if there was an honest broker in the AGW global warming crowd (that phrase may be oxymoronic in concept… so sorry), we’d probably find ourselves aligned with those few honest brokers with the electric car. Forget the predictable and obvious increase in energy costs in an economic climate where none can afford it. For electric cars, it’s really all about the forgotten and/or unknown repercussions of increased water vapor emissions… as I pointed out back in July 2008.
Then again, at this rate and price, who’d sell enough electric cars to effect squat? Oh wait.. .the Chinese, of course. Who’ll build them with cheap Chinese labor and sell them overseas.
There was and is a need to control pollution of air, land and water. The madness comes from an utter disinterest in evaluating cost vs. benefit, and the use of agenda-driven hatchet jobs thinly camoflaged with the window dressing of a phony baloney scientific ‘evaluation.’
The accelerated sulfur dioxide rules just happened to target the state of Texas by random chance? I doubt it. It’s a Republican state, and things are going far too well there; and it’s been achieved by doing the opposite of what the Federal government is doing, namely less. Have to scuttle their economy to erase the embarassment. It’s the Chicago Way.
I would like to know when someone is going to sue the E(verbodies) P(ain) in the A(ss) to declare it an unconstitutional organization. It has done nothing but regulate this nation out of common sense, that type of decision for the environment is delegated to the states not the federal government.
Mune Shadowe, hi,
I think they had the order to pick at RICK PERRY,
and give him a hard time by hypocritically working from behind
and hurting the workers of TEXAS, IT LOOK LIKE THAT TO ME,
when you see how they go around to get at their opponent all the times,
they are afraid of PERRY, and they have so many agencies to to the jobs of hurting the good AMERICANS ,
Here’s another future shock that isn’t talked about much, especially by our “green” thinking government. The typical, giant, lithium-ion battery pack in these vehicles cost the manufacturers apx. $15,000 and has a projected lifespan of 5 years or 100,000 miles at which time it will have to be replaced by the owner. This makes the vehicle saleproof on the used car market. Who is going to buy a four year old electric with 70,000 miles on it knowing they are going to have to invest another $8,000 to $10,000 in the near future? This is assuming the price will go down which nobody in the business is willing to say now.
@John Cooper:
10? Lawdy.
You are wrong about greg. He doesn’t think at all. 😉
It should also be noted one of the “studies” greg linked to is from the NRDC-Natural Resource Defense Council. In other words, of questionable honesty and science.
@NYGino: Re: comment #30, NYGino is correct.
DrJohn, I’m SURE you meant no pun with the title of your excellent post. 🙂
Thanks, DrJohn, for providing (as the late, great Paul Harvey used to say) the rest of the story. I just finished GM assistant CEO Bob Lutz’s book, Car Guys vs Bean Counters. In it, he said the Volt is well engineered. Who are we to argue with him? But Lutz stops there – he makes no mention of resale, or taxes, or cost of ownership. As DrJohn points out, there is much more to car ownership than initial purchase.
And now I hear (via the MSM) that Cadillac is going to enter the hybrid automobile market. No point here, just an observation.
I can’t understand why this so called president has not been impeaced.oh and greg crawl back into your hole.
@wildbill:
Here, I’ll explain it. For him to be impeached would require a true “opposition” party to be in power in the House of Representatives.
It’s a scam. All of it.
Thanks Ivan you said it all.
@Greg: Just because the Efriggin’PA was created by executive orders, that doesn’t mean that the moron-in-chief should pile on- Everything this asshat has done has had a negative effect onour country. Even if he was to commit suicide, that would have a negative effect on the country, as we would be stuck with Unca’ Joe Biden, who needs tineacide on his lips, because he sticks his foot in his mouth so much.
The EPA is filled with eco-weenies, so much so that nothing meaningful can get done.
BTW- I am rather surprised that, with the 800 eagles killed annually by wind turbines, there is not a peep out of the EPA, whereas if this was related to the oil industry, the screams from those weak-tits would be enormous.
Certain concerns over environmental matters and conservation issues are simply common sense. Most creatures don’t survive long or thrive languishing in their own offal (i.e. don’t drill your drinking well too close to the outhouse). The wise don’t devour all their crops, they allow some to go to seed and collect them so that they will be able to plant again next season. Too sterile or controlled an environment weakens and lessens the ability of life forms to adapt and survive adversity. You don’t import organisms that are alien to an environment, if you don’t know if you can control them should something go wrong. “Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should” (the last borrowed from Jurassic Park). We still don’t know that exotic gene-spliced lifeforms will be free from secondary complications. (Africanized “killer” bees are still spreading, while American honeybees are in decline).
However, as with most government agencies, the EPA takes what might have started as seeming reasonable and ends up pushing the limits to ridiculous extreme.
With the PRK leading the way down the toilet, the rest of the nation will have the opportuinity to see insanity in action. Moonbeam is doubling down on ‘green’ energy. The fools that didn’t realize that when Barry said that energy costs would rise didn’t have a clue as to what that really meant. Lots of them still don’t. My daughter-in-law is one of them. So much for a degree in business finance.
Obama mentioned a clean battery company just Tuesday in his SOTU.
On Thursday that company, ENER1, filed for bankruptcy.
Another 1,700 jobs lost.
Another millions of dollars (this time DOE gave the ”green” company $118 million) gone.
Obama loves picking ”winners and losers,” on our dime.
Too bad it is almost always LOSERS.
Nan G
hi,
there should be a law that, if the PRESIDENT decide on his own PEJORATIVE without asking the PEOPLE OR their elected representative,
THEN HE SHOULD PAY WITH HIS OWN MONEY FOR THAT PROJECT COMING FROM ONLY HIM, AND IF WINN, BE ABLE TO COLLECT, OR LOOSE HIS OWN MONEY.
that would really tell on him, AND MAKE HIM THINK TWICE, ON THE PROJECT.
Not to mention that the MSM never, ever mentions the effect of Obama’s mean-spirited energy policies jacking up costs and thus hurting those US citizens who can least afford more inflation.
@Ditto:
Great point, Ditto.
The Wall Street Journal put out the REAL numbers:
“Data for 2011′s penultimate month brings into view the year’s clear villain on the inflation front: an unambiguous and broad surge in energy prices.
…..
Over the 12-month period, fuel oil surged 25%, while gasoline was up 19.7%. Energy as a whole was up 12.4%, compared with a 4.6% annualized increase in food prices.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/16/energy-prices-have-driven-2011-inflation/