EPA's Boiler MACT Rule - Killing 800,000 Jobs?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Actually, it’s not just the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s minority contingent that fears the loss of nearly a million jobs from new EPA rules on greenhouse gases and other emissions issues.  It’s also groups like the United Steel Workers, Unions for Jobs and the Environment, and experts like King’s College Professor Ragnar Lofstedt.  Hot Air got an exclusive look at a report that the EPW minority staff will release later this morning detailing the economic damage that an activist EPA will do to the American economy, and which will come at perhaps the worst possible time, both economically and politically.

In fact, the new regulations threaten to put entire industries out of business.  The new standard for boilers, titled “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Major Sources: Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters” and called the Boiler MACT, creates a standard that literally no producer in the US meets at the moment.  The industry group Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA) represents end-user firms that employ 750,000 in various industries, and they concur:

To bad, so sad, jobs go bye-bye...change you can believe in!

What happens when the installed boilers don’t meet the new standard?  Factories and other facilities will have to close, putting jobs in danger and firms already hammered by the recession will lose production days — which will destroy jobs.  That’s why the United Steel Workers have sounded the alarm, insisting that the EPA’s proposal will mean disaster:

    “Tens of thousands of these jobs will be imperiled.  In addition, many more tens of thousands of jobs in the supply chains and in the communities where these plants are located also will be at risk.”

Nor are steelworkers the only group at risk.  New industrial standards for Portland cement threaten to stop all American production in the name of environmental protection — and send the work overseas to China, where ironically the standards are more lax and more pollution will result:

    “So rather than importing 20 million tons of cement per year, the proposed [rule] will lead to cement imports of more than 48 million tons per year. In other words, by tightening the regulations on U.S. cement kilns, there will be a risk transfer of some 28 million tons of cement offshore, mostly to China.” – Professor Ragnar Lofstedt, Kings College (London)

Again, no facility in the US meets the standards proposed by the EPA.  Imposition of these standards would at least temporarily close almost 20 percent of all American cement producers and reduce long-term cement production from 8-15%.  The cement that will be needed for construction demand will have to be imported, primarily from China, which is expanding their cement production using environmental standards significantly below current American standards.  In other words, we can expect more pollution, not less — just outsourced along with the jobs in the industry.

To bad, so sad, no jobs for Americans.  It's the anti-American Obama administration hard at work.  It's like they stay up late at night thinking of ways to send American jobs to China...

more here - http://hotair.com/archives/2010/09/28/exclusive-epw-report-shows-new-epa-rules-will-cost-more-than-800000-jobs/
just my humble opinions

[WhiskeyGirl]

New air standards could cost thousands of paper industry jobs, report says

New federal air standards that are being considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could result in the loss of 7,500 jobs in the papermaking industry in Wisconsin and the closure of 11 paper mills, according to a study released by Fisher International, a pulp and paper mill data firm.

The study estimates that more than 43,000 jobs could be lost across the country, and about 92 mills closed because of the new regulations. Wisconsin is one of the largest paper-making states, and would face some of the biggest losses.

One of the new rules under consideration by the EPA, named Boiler MACT, would set emission rules for boilers and process heaters at universities, small municipalities, food product processors, furniture makers, federal facilities and a wide range of manufacturers, including paper mills.

“This study clearly shows that the impact of new air regulations on the paper industry would be devastating,” said Jeff Landin, president of the Wisconsin Paper Council. “The capital cost of compliance for Wisconsin paper mills for (the one of the new regulations) would be $470 million. Regulators and industry can and must work together to preserve good paying jobs and protect the environment.”

more here - http://www.biztimes.com/manufacturingweekly/2010/9/13/

[WhiskeyGirl]

Op-Ed: EPA rules threaten the economy
 By EPW Blog  Friday, September 24, 2010

By Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
09/22/10

On Labor Day in Milwaukee, President Obama vowed to “keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American Dream.” Stirring rhetoric, no doubt; but to the employees at Thilmany Papers, a company that employs 850 people in two specialty paper mills in Wisconsin, it means little.

That’s because the Obama Environmental Protection Agency is threatening their livelihoods. The threat comes from EPA’s proposal to regulate industrial boilers, the Boiler MACT rule. As with most EPA rules, the Boiler MACT  (maximum achievable control technology standards) sounds arcane, and seems to be the remote province of federal technocrats. This is certainly true, but its impact will be pervasive and damaging. Here’s what Thilmany had to say about it: “Our business, like many others, encounters many challenges. However, none threaten the continued existence of our business like this [proposed rule].”

more here - http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/28019

Another day in Obama's job killing paradise?  American utopia?

[WhiskeyGirl]

On top of this, EPA is planning to revise  the current ozone standard under the Clean Air Act. This standard was lowered during the Bush administration in 2008 - yet apparently not far enough for Obama’s EPA. Despite the fact that no new compelling public health studies have emerged to justify a lower standard, the Obama EPA supports ozone levels approaching, in some areas, what’s present in the air naturally, absent any human contribution.

EPA’s expected new ozone standard will mar several hundred counties across the country with a scarlet “non-attainment” designation. This means more than just failing to meet the new standard: Such a designation severely constrains the ability of local communities to expand and create jobs.

I have to wonder how much of that ozone and other pollution comes from China?  With the loss of so much manufacturing, who makes all this pollution?

President Obama speaks grandiosely about restoring the American dream. Yet, all the while, his EPA churns out rules that will crush America’s industries and the manufacturing jobs they support. It’s time to stop EPA’s impending nightmare of shuttered factories and tradesmen with pink slips. And it’s time to restore the appropriate balance between environmental protection and economic growth.

Where are the replacement jobs?  10 years down the road?  20?

more here - http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/28019

To bad, so sad, no jobs, no home, no hope for America.  Change you can believe in.

[WhiskeyGirl]

"Public gets chance to weigh-in on coal ash regulations"

But forcing utility companies to store coal ash in a hazardous materials site eliminates any chance the byproduct can be recycled for other uses, Duke Energy spokeswoman Erin Culbert said.

She said Duke recycles about 45 percent of its coal ash for materials such as concrete and substances used for road paving.

Duke Energy isn’t opposed to more government regulation, Culbert said. But Culbert added that shouldn’t come without a reasonable balance of affordability and reliability of service.

“We invest a lot of money and work into these facilities to make sure they’re handling these residuals safely,” she said. “We certainly want to see water quality protected, we want to see the communities surrounding our plants protected.”

If coal ash is ruled a hazardous substance, it will likely result in utility rate increases for Duke customers as the company will have to find places where it can store the combusted materials, she continued.

more here - http://newsandtribune.com/local/x124779404/Public-gets-chance-to-weigh-in-on-coal-ash-regulations

How handy that other EPA stuff will send concrete manufacturing to China.  For some reason, I recall that China fires up like one or more coal plants a week.  So, they will have lots of new business and opportunity to RECYCLE all the coal ash produced in those plants.

To bad, so sad, no jobs for American workers.  It's part of Obama's grand plan to de-evolve the US.

How long before we all live in cold/no water flats with no heat?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Marty Leedy, of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power, said the proposal to label fly ash a "special waste" but treat it as a hazardous waste under federal law amounts to "regulatory overkill." Such a rule change will "cripple" the industry, stigmatize reuse of coal ash in construction materials, kill jobs, raise construction costs and raise customer rates, he said.

But Lisa Widawsky, an attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project, said the electric power industry can handle the increased costs, which have been estimated by the EPA at $1.4 billion the first year and $23 billion overall. She said one electric company, FirstEnergy, had revenues of $13 billion last year.

'Revenue' is not the same as profit.  What about working families that don't have an extra $23 billion in their pocket?

"We live in an old coal town, but we're human and entitled to protections we're not getting," said Mr. Ulery, one of 160 scheduled speakers at the day-long hearing. "The state isn't paying enough attention. We need federal controls."

Why would anyone think the federal government will do a better job?  How well is the federal government securing the border?

The EPA is proposing to federally regulate coal ash for the first time in response to risks to groundwater and drinking water supplies from toxics leaching from impoundments and dry landfills and recent structural failures. In 2008, the collapse of a Tennessee Valley Authority ash impoundment near Kingston, Tenn., flooded more than 300 acres of land with coal ash slurry and flowed into the Emory and Clinch rivers.

Let's be real clear here, who is the enemy?  Is it one or two plants?  Or is the EPA painting all plants with a broad pollution brush?

The EPA will select one of two rule proposals. One, Subtitle C, would designate coal fly ash as a "special waste" but regulate it under federal hazardous waste rules, phase out use of existing wet slurry impoundments and ensure the structural integrity of the impoundments through increased inspection and monitoring. The second proposal, under Subtitle D of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, would regulate fly ash as a non-hazardous waste and provides for no federal enforcement. It would be enforced through citizen lawsuits.

Sarah Hodgdon, Sierra Club conservation director, said 20 states don't regulate coal ash at all, and there is little monitoring or enforcement in many others.

Isn't it possible that at least 20 states don't have coal fired plants?  Don't produce coal ash at all?  I seem to recall that some states do not rely on coal.  Red herring?

"Where it's been studied they've found contamination in drinking water," she said. "That's why it's important to put in the strongest protections."

Did they find contamination in 100% of the water studied?  Eliminated other sources of pollution?  Eliminated older pollution?  Maybe from decades ago?  Other industry?

Does similar pollution exist in places without coal ash?

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10265/1089332-454.stm#ixzz10u72vZGv

[WhiskeyGirl]

Coal ash a source of concern in China: Greenpeace

(AFP) – Sep 15, 2010

BEIJING — China's coal-fired plants produce enough toxic ash to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every two-and-a-half minutes, creating contaminants that travel far and wide, Greenpeace said on Wednesday.

As the world's largest coal user, China's more than 1,400 coal-fired electrical plants produce at least 375 million tonnes of coal ash every year -- 2.5 times the quantity in 2002, the environmental group said.

Yes, Obama sends jobs to China.  How much of the stimulus produces lots of pollution?

According to the report, coal ash can spread over an area spanning up to 150,000 square kilometres (60,000 square miles) -- the size of Nepal -- in high winds.

How much coal ash from China ends up in my back yard?

more here - http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iLmrkvdWmkSVrlARjGa8nk3Nz8sA

[WhiskeyGirl]

"Many people over 40 years old already have gray hair in our village," he said. "I don't know if it is caused by the pollution, but whenever the wind comes, the coal ash fills my eyes and makes them water."

He said many farmers are also struggling to harvest their crops because they are covered by coal ash.

According to the National Standards and Management Practices for Sewage Fee Collection, factories are charged 30 yuan ($4.4) for each ton of coal ash that is not disposed of properly, an amount Greenpeace believes is too low.

"Considering the severity of the coal ash problem, the law enforcement methods appear relatively weak," the report said.

I wonder how much of that coal ash food ends up in America?

more here - http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-09/573574_2.html

pictures of the problem here -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/sep/16/pollution-coal-ash-china#/?picture=366690638&index=0

I don't recall seeing anything like this in the US.