9 Fatal Flaws with Obama EPA Clean Power Plan

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The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article addressing the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s lawless tendencies, including what is perhaps the Agency’s “crowning” achievement under the oversight of Barack Hussein Obama: the so-called Clean Power Plan (see WSJ: Brushing Back a Lawless EPA). We’ve written a number of stories about the CPP–primarily that it not only outright assassinates the coal industry, it mortally wounds (with intent to kill) all fossil fuels, including natural gas. MDN guest blogger Stephen Heins saw the WSJ article and created a succinct list of nine flaws with the Obama EPA CPP. Steve’s arguments are rock-solid and unmask the CPP for what it really is: fatally flawed…

By Stephen Heins
The Word Merchant, LLC

While it may be said that calling the EPA “lawless” [a reference to the WSJ article] seems a bit extreme, there are some of us who see many basic flaws in the EPA’s Clean Power Plan:

(1) The medical computation of indirect health benefits from reducing PM2.5 have never been well demonstrated; [MDN note: PM2.5 are fine particulate matter–an air pollutant that is a concern for people’s health when levels in air are high. PM2.5 are tiny particles in the air that reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy when levels are elevated. Reduction of PM2.5 is a key component of the CPP. Steve’s point is that medical studies supporting that notion are lacking.]

(2) The use of select studies to support the CPP are examples of “study-bias;”

(3) The complete faith that politicians can dictate technological advancements instead of the free marketplace innovating such advancements;

(4) The complete lack of a full accounting of the costs of stranding electrical assets and the large investment in new infrastructure which essentially just replicates old distribution assets;

(5) The Clean Power Plan was not vetted nor formulated by a state or national political mandate;

(6) The fact that 27 states have officially challenged the legality of the Clean Power Plan;

(7) President Obama and EPA Administrator McCarthy will be in the rear-view mirror by the time it is fully implemented;

(8) The Clean Power Plan has been sold to the American public by the current administration using a PR effort indistinguishable from a political campaign;

(9) and, The biggest flaw of all, the fact the Clean Power Plan hasn’t withstood any Constitutional challenges in the Supreme Court.

Currently, Stephen Heins is an energy and regulatory consultant for a Wall Street firm. Previously, Heins was Vice President of Corporate Communication for Orion Energy Systems, a publicly-traded leader in innovating energy and lighting systems based in Plymouth, Wis. He has published dozens of articles and op-ed pieces over the last 16 years on energy management, the utility industry, environmental issues, internet and broadband issues.