Lawsuit alert: carbon wars are set to begin

I actually heard one political analyst today say that "nobody" wants the EPA to single-handedly deal with greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. By that I presume this MSM reporter means nobody with lots of power or money in Washington. All sides want to see Congress weigh-in. I might add that's because lobbyists and big donors have more sway with Congress than the current EPA regime. Senators are clear that the threat of an EPA action is making them feel like they might have to do something. Well, all sides in the carbon wars will soon get a wake-up call. This current EPA is not determined to take eight years to take no action as the previous version of the EPA did. It now seems that the EPA may issue its new version of rules for carbon dioxide limits in the next few days. Directly affected will be U.S. power plants, oil refineries and factories. Indirectly but quickly affected will be a majority of U.S. electric customers, anybody who uses cement or buys a steel product, the plastics industry, coal companies, their loybbists and champions in Congress. And where there's smoke there'll be some critical political fire. Expect some of the biggest ticket lawsuits since the battles over cigraette smoke, or asbestos before that. Expect critics of any EPA action to predict the end of life, the doom of civilization and the passing of every American job outside the Pentagon. The EPA is acting under the powers of Clean Air Act. This move is to regulate emissions from smokestakes. This is the prelude to the big bucks lawsuits. Limited information about the Senate version of the energy/climate change bil indicates it will have nice giveaways for agriculture (all those farm state Senators, you know) and also some nice gifties for the nuclear industry which has been defunct in this land for decades. You may recall that back in early summer the U.S. House of Reps passed the Waxman-Markey bill on energy and climate change. The Senate insists it will write a better bill. Once the EPA moves, the Senate's move may not be far behind. Here's the explanation from the EPA head: "By using the power and authority of the Clean Air Act, we can begin reducing emissions from the nation's largest greenhouse gas emitting facilities without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the vast majority of our economy. We know the corner coffee shop is not the meaningful place to look for carbon reductions." [poll id="183"]