The Road to Regulatory Tyranny I

By 2015, 33 percent of coal production was shut down. Some of that was due to the natural gas phenomenon quickly taking a huge market share and less was due to alternative energy. There is no question, however, that the calloused/special interest regulations implemented by the EPA have had a devastating impact. Source: Steamboattoday.com

During testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 22, 2016, EPA head Gina McCarthy made a stunning admission. “I think sir, we see it (crippling the coal industry) as having had enormous benefit in showing sort of domestic leadership as well as garnering support around the country for the agreement we reached in Paris.” (Italics and underlining added for emphasis)

Surface mining of clean, low-sulphur coal in the western states is also at risk. Source: Wyomingmining.org

Rep David McKinley (R-WV) shot back that the nations are NOT following the US’s lead, but are greatly expanding their construction of coal-fired plants, especially China, India, and Indonesia. Several European nations can be thrown into the mix as well. Worse, McKinley challenged her with the fact that even if the US demolished every coal-fired power producer in America, it would only reduce the US CO2 emissions by 0.2%, which isn’t even measureable. McCarthy never challenged McKinley’s assertion that the destruction of the coal industry would have no effect on CO₂ emissions.

McKinley retorted, "If we terminate two-tenths, but the other nations of China and India are going to way more than make up for that loss, is it worth it to our economy to put all our people in our coal companies out of work for something that's not measurable? (Italics added) Unfazed, McCarthy shot back, "I'm really trying to keep my eye on my job, which is to try to reduce pollution."

It is obvious that McCarthy could care less about facts and people as long as the EPA becomes more powerful and that real or imagined pollution is stopped no matter who is hurt or destroyed.

Until recently, the US produced 40% or more from coal. In their war on coal, McCarthy and Obama have eliminated 33% of that already. The Washington Post reports a study that identifies nearly 50,000 jobs lost in the coal industry by 2015. The natural gas energy segment has added even more jobs and is likely responsible for the shutdown of the less profitable coal mines.

It is one thing for jobs to be lost through valid competition. It is quite another for the government to deliberately destroy them. Some coal workers have probably been able to find jobs in the natural gas industry, but many have not. These jobs require skills that are not naturally in a coal miners/processor’s experience. What are these former coal workers supposed to do? They have only minimal skills in other work areas and the federal retraining classes have proved pretty much worthless in most cases.

When a powerful agency has a heart of stone and a fixation on stopping something with little to no hard scientific evidence to back them up, tyranny results and people’s lives are destroyed.