Current Events vs. Founding Documents
Entry 227
Current Event
According to the Journal Sentinel, Dec. 1, 2014
DNR, utilities say emissions mandates would hurt Wisconsin
The state Department of Natural Resources sided with utilities on Monday in arguing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would penalize state power companies with a mandate to curb greenhouse gas emissions nationally by thirty percent by 2030.
The DNR largely brushed aside concerns of environmental organizations and agreed with business groups that said the EPA’s plan to combat global warming would hurt the economy and cost Wisconsin up to $13.4 billion. The agency was joined by the state Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities.
The EPA plan, released in June, is part of a larger Obama administration climate action plan to reduce carbon pollution. Monday was the final day for feedback to the EPA on the rules, which it expects to finalize next year. Multiple organizations weighed in.
Business groups led by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce said a shift to natural gas and renewable power would likely mean higher prices, which would penalize Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector.
“We are very concerned the cost of EPA’s proposal will threaten our most reliable energy source and damage our ability to provide affordable energy to our citizens and manufacturing-based economy,” the agencies said.
According to StarTribune/AP, January 28, 2015
Wisconsin Democrats defend Obama carbon limits at hearing, maintain benefits outweigh cost
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Democrats defended the Obama administration’s proposed carbon emission limits Wednesday in the face of mounting Republican opposition, arguing during a legislative hearing that the standards would help curb global warming, alleviate health problems and create jobs.
Republicans who lead the Assembly and Senate’s energy committees called an informational hearing as GOP Gov. Scott Walker is preparing a lawsuit over the standards. The governor contends compliance costs will translate to soaring electric bills and crush the state’s manufacturing sector and family budgets.
Walker sent a letter to the EPA in December, arguing Wisconsin utilities already have invested billions in renewable energy and pointing to state Public Service Commission estimates that compliance could cost between $3.3 billion and $13.4 billion and electric bills could jump as much as 29 percent. He announced during his State of the State speech earlier this month that he is working on a lawsuit challenging the limits.
The standards’ opponents seized on the price tag Wednesday, saying the cost doesn’t justify the benefits especially when other countries such as China continue to produce greenhouse gases.
VS
The EPA Vs. The Constitution and The Constitution
Founding Document
The US Constitution: Tenth amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” (George Washington)
“It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the State governments will, in all possible contingencies, afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority. ….” (excerpt from Federalist Paper 28, Alexander Hamilton)
We the People:
The EPA’s unconstitutional attack on domestic energy sources and states’ rights will increase the cost of domestic manufacturing and therefore cause more jobs to be lost to foreign competition. Congress gave no power for the executive branch to define CO2 as a pollutant, and yet it proceeds. That fire to which George Washington referred is out of control. It is time to counter that attack.
The US Constitution gives Wisconsin officials the power to enforce our state’s rights under the tenth amendment. We should contact our state Senators and Representatives to ask them to support Governor Walker’s lawsuit. We should also ask our US Senators and Representatives to defund the EPA until it retreats to within its constitutional authority. Doing so will advance the economy, and liberty.
Click For Wisconsin Representatives
Click For Wisconsin State Senators
For US House of Representatives, go to http://www.house.gov/
For US Senate, go to http://www.senate.gov/
