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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rich evans who wrote (71042)	4/11/2009 7:25:06 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 90947

YIKES!

To: rich evans who wrote (71042)	4/11/2009 10:26:42 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 90947

Regulations gone mad Betsy's Page The Wall Street Journal has taken a look at the climate bill that Henry Waxman and Ed Markey are working on. It's a torturous collection of regulations for practically everything that people use. <<< Right off, the bill mandates that 25% of U.S. electricity come from wind, solar, geothermal or biomass by 2025. Sorry, nuclear doesn't count. This kind of renewable portfolio standard directly contradicts the putative flexibility of cap and trade, which is supposed to allow businesses to reduce CO2 how and where it is least expensive. But Democrats aren't about to let the details of their own policies stand in the way of magical thinking. Despite political favoritism and billions in subsidies, wind still only accounts for about 1% of U.S. net electric generation, and solar all of one-hundredth of 1%. So now the liberal solution is simply to force people to buy them, a la the ethanol mandate. Yet it will be difficult for renewables to ever reach 25%, given their inherent limitations (intermittency) and, ironically, green opposition (no new power lines). That won't stop Congress from punishing utilities that fail to meet an impossible goal. But Messrs. Waxman and Markey have more pressing matters. Such as building codes. New homes "with slanted roofs," for instance, will be required to meet a "solar reflectance" standard if they use "fiberglass asphalt-shingle roofing." We're not sure what that means either, but we do know that everything in homes will also face new efficiency regulations -- including furnaces, laundry machines, dishwashers, "showerheads, faucets, water closets, and urinals," even (or especially?) jacuzzis. One of the more revealing sections focuses on products "intended for a general service or general illumination application" -- i.e., lights. This isn't surprising coming from the politicians who decided in 2007 that the public must be protected from the incandescent lightbulb, but it is excruciatingly detailed. By 2020, "the manufacture of any general service lamp that does not meet a minimum efficacy standard" will be prohibited. That includes fixtures "designed only to be mounted directly to an art work and for the purpose of illuminating that art work." But not "decorative lighting strings," so Christmas trees will escape the lamp police. For now. >>> If you like those low-flow toilets and the CFL light-bulbs mandate, just imagine how you'll enjoy the brave new world that Henry Waxman is designing for you. UPDATE: Add in a provision in Waxman's bill that would give lawyers an opportunity to draft all sorts of new lawsuits. <<< Self-proclaimed victims of global warming or those who "expect to suffer" from it - from beachfront property owners to asthmatics - for the first time would be able to sue the federal government or private businesses over greenhouse gas emissions under a little-noticed provision slipped into the House climate bill. Environmentalists say the measure was narrowly crafted to give citizens the unusual standing to sue the U.S. government as a way to force action on curbing emissions. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sees a new cottage industry for lawyers. "You could be spawning lawsuits at almost any place [climate-change modeling] computers place at harm's risk," said Bill Kovacs, energy lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. >>> betsyspage.blogspot.com