NWV News - Progressives to attempt power grab before November elections

PROGRESSIVES TO ATTEMPT POWER GRAB BEFORE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS

By NWV News writer Jim Kouri
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
April 9, 2010
© 2009 NewsWithViews.com

The so-called Cap & Trade legislation embraced by progressives in the White House, both houses of the U.S. Congress and left-wing environmentalists continues to be a priority of neo-Marxists and power-hungry politicians, according to conservatives and public-interest groups.

"The recent revelations of "junk" science -- even out-and-out fraud -- have failed to silence the steady drone of the "sky-is-falling" crowd. In other words, the progressives wish to change American society based on the recommendations of mendacious and corrupt scientists and advocates," states political strategist Mike Baker.

However, with Cap & Trade and other energy legislation unlikely -- at least for now -- of passing in both houses of the U.S. Congress, the Obama Administration and its supporters are seeking the means to once again bypass the legislative branch. In other words, failing to sign an energy bill, President Barack Obama will give us Cap & Trade by fiat.

In order to have an impact on U.S. energy consumption, carbon emissions and climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to spearhead policies that would never pass muster with many lawmakers on Capitol Hill -- at least until after the November election cycle.

In a landmark decision in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA possessed the legal authority to regulate so-called greenhouse gases.

As a result of the court bestowing such power on that agency -- and the likelihood that Cap & Trade and similar legislation will not reach President Obama's desk for signing -- EPA officials have declared carbon dioxide and other gases to be a threat to the environment and to the health of Americans. They are currently formulating regulations to restrict emissions from automobiles and trucks, power plants and other sources.

As with the negative aspects of proposed energy legislation, such regulatory action will impose additional costs for doing business in America -- even the world -- especially in these uncertain economic times.

While proponents of government-imposed regulations believe the EPA is justified and welcomed furthering their goal of reducing the production of the heat-trapping gases that certain scientists claim are changing the global climate, others are not so sure that what's being touted as necessary and reasonable are indeed necessary or reasonable.

For example, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) recently took the floor of the Senate and told her colleagues on both sides of the aisle that she is ready and willing to fight an EPA she believes is "contemplating regulations that will destroy jobs while millions of Americans are doing everything they can just to find one."

“Make no mistake,” Ms. Murkowski said in her floor statement, “If Congress allows this to happen there will be severe consequences.” She said businesses would be forced to close or move overseas, domestic energy production would be curtailed, housing would become more expensive and agricultural costs would rise.

"Businesses will be forced to cut jobs, if not move outside our borders or close their doors for good perhaps. Domestic energy production will be severely restricted, increasing our dependence on foreign suppliers and threatening our national security. Housing will become less affordable," said the angry senator from Alaska.

Murkowski proposed that the Senate pass a resolution forcing the EPA to back down and stop it from being used by the Obama White House to force congress to pass energy and climate-change legislation.

Ms. Murkowski, the senior Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has nearly unanimous Republican support in addition to the backing of the three Democrats: Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who is fighting to regain his popularity after caving-in to voting for the Democrats' health care bill.

However, her resolution requires a majority vote in the Senate, something very unlikely since the opposition of the Democratic leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, and most of the other Senate Democrats is fierce.

That resolution faces an even tougher road to passing in the House, and would most probably be vetoed by Obama, a man who places the environment -- or government power-grabbing -- high on his agenda.

All the same, Senator Murkowski's resolution and statements received the applause of industry leaders, and members of agriculture and energy lobbies, who fear the prospect of what they consider capricious and heavy-handed regulation by EPA. Perhaps her resolution would see the light of day in November, when voters will have the opportunity to replace lawmakers obsessed with a radical environmental agenda with lawmakers who have Americans’ best interests at heart.

SUSPECTED CORRUPTION

The EPA was recently swayed by the industry it regulates to conceal a hazardous chemical has been duped into labeling bogus products as greenhouse emissions-decreasing energy savers that qualify for government rebates, according to public-interest group Judicial Watch.

This certainly indicates that Uncle Sam’s highly-touted Energy Star program, which offers hundreds of millions of dollar in rebates to those who use “energy efficient” products, is a big joke or at the very least a waste of public funds.

The scandal-plagued Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) runs the program along with the Department of Energy (DOE) and millions of tax dollars have been spent to encourage Americans to use its approved products. In fact, Energy Star just got a $300 million infusion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act so states can offer rebates.

Now a congressional investigation reveals that products carrying the coveted Energy Star label may not be efficient after all because the program is highly vulnerable to fraud. More than a dozen fake items, including a “gasoline-powered alarm clock” and nonexistent dehumidifiers and heat pumps, submitted for approval easily secured the Energy Star label, according to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office.

It includes the embarrassing details of a nine-month probe that sheds a shameful light on the government for wasting tax dollars and essentially deceiving Americans into believing they’re using quality, energy-saving products with a reliable stamp of approval. For the most part Energy Star is a self-certification project susceptible to fraud and abuse, investigators found.

The best part is that officials at the federal agencies in charge actually agree that they take the manufacturers’ word when they issue Energy Star certifications. Self-policing subsequently ensures the products, which may not be energy efficient to begin with, maintain adequate standards, they assert.

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In February 2010, investigators revealed that the EPA caved into the industry it regulates by keeping a household chemical (Bisphenol), banned in several states after hundreds of scientific studies deemed it unsafe, off its hazard list. The agency had previously earmarked it to be included on its list of dangerous products that need tougher regulation but reneged after high-level meetings with industry lobbyists.