It's Official, Cap and Trade On It's Way

The EPA has reversed it's position on CO₂.

After all these years of simply being an innocuous part of the atmosphere, the EPA has decided that carbon dioxide has suddenly somehow become a pollutant and therefore the EPA has the POWER to regulate it. (You should now cease all breathing until you obtain a government permit).

The US government is to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, having decided that it and five other greenhouse gases may endanger human health and well-being.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the move following a review of the scientific evidence.

The decision marks a major change from the Bush presidency, when the EPA argued it could not regulate CO2 because the gas was not a pollutant.

The BBC article goes on to enumerate the dangers of this dreaded gas. EPA CO₂ endangerment findings:

• an increased risk of droughts and floods
• sea level rise
• more intense storms and heatwaves
• harm to water supplies, agriculture and wildlife

Ms Jackson concluded that these impacts would fall disproportionately on people who were poor or in ill health, and on indigenous groups.

By determining CO₂ to be hazardous (indirectly?) the EPA has granted itself POWER to regulate this national security threat¹:

"Carbon-cutting legislation is being proposed in Congress, but the EPA decision - known as an "endangerment finding" - will allow the agency to mandate some cuts without waiting for the draft bills to become law." [emphasis mine]

Let's cut to the chase. This is simply an Obama administration power grab.

They can proceed to implement their agressive "climate change" agenda without waiting for legislation. BHO's promise to bankrupt coal companies with "cap & trade" limits is now well on it's way to fulfillment.

What is "cap & trade" and why should you care?

These measures... set a limit, or cap, on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use. The effect of such a cap would be to impose rationing of coal, oil, and natural gas on the American economy. Each covered utility, oil company, and manufacturing facility would be given allowances based on past emissions or some other formula. Those companies that emit less carbon dioxide than permitted by their allowances could sell the excess to those that do not; this is the trade part of cap and trade. Over time, the cap would be ratcheted down, requiring greater cuts in emissions...

...limiting the supply of fossil fuels... would raise the cost of energy. For consumers, cap and trade means more expensive gasoline and electricity as well as net job losses in energy-dependent sectors.... the Congressional Budget Office has noted, such energy cost increases act as a regressive tax on the poor...

...Cap and trade bills are nothing short of a government re-engineering of the American economy... [and] would put the nation on a path of serious economic harm not justified by any benefits. --Beware of Cap and Trade Climate Bills [emphasis mine]

Cap & Trade is an indirect form of taxation and will harm not only industry but individuals economically. The BBC article cited above mentions that, "The EPA's decision now goes out to public consultation. The agency says it will 'conduct an appropriate process and consider stakeholder input' before imposing restrictions on any part of the economy."

Don't count on public scrutiny slowing down the BHO climate change juggernaut, it's probably just a smoke screen.

And don't forget, stop breathing until told to do so. You might have already reached your exhale quota for the day.

¹ The EPA quoted a 2007 report by a group of retired generals and admirals who said that climate change presented "national security challenges" for the US.