Biden EPA Unveils New Crackdown On Power Plants

The Environmental Protection Agency released new carbon emissions standards for power plants that burn coal and natural gas, a move which some energy experts and lawmakers caution will decrease power reliability and artificially increase electricity costs for households.

The new regulations unveiled on Thursday morning would seek to avoid 617 million metric tons of total carbon dioxide emissions through 2042, equal to the emissions produced by half of the nation’s cars, as well as reduce the amount of particulate matter released into the atmosphere. The proposed limits would “require ambitious reductions in carbon pollution based on proven and cost-effective control technologies” at coal and natural gas plants, which account for 60% of power generation in the nation, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

“By proposing new standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants, EPA is delivering on its mission to reduce harmful pollution that threatens people’s health and wellbeing,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a press release. “EPA’s proposal relies on proven, readily available technologies to limit carbon pollution and seizes the momentum already underway in the power sector to move toward a cleaner future. Alongside historic investment taking place across America in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, these proposals will help deliver tremendous benefits to the American people, cutting climate pollution and other harmful pollutants, protecting people’s health, and driving American innovation.”

The release claimed that the new regulations would produce “climate and public health benefits” worth $85 billion over the next two decades, as well as prevent premature deaths and hospital visits as a result of decreased particulate matter emissions. The new rules had been widely expected for weeks before their public release.

Jason Isaac, a director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told The Daily Wire that the new regulations are “far-reaching” and will inevitably raise power costs for households.

“Carbon capture technologies are so expensive that the result will be the sudden retirement of reliable generation, and there will be nothing to replace it,” Isaac said. “This is a prime example of an unelected executive agency run amok, with a single-minded agenda of eliminating fossil fuels and controlling how we produce and consume energy regardless of the costs or consequences, all while doing nothing to mitigate a changing climate.”

The new emissions standards come months after the Supreme Court ruled in West Virginia v. EPA that federal agencies cannot assert “highly consequential power beyond what Congress could reasonably be understood to have granted.” Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow at the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute, told The Daily Wire that the regulations have “no chance of withstanding” scrutiny from the Supreme Court but noted that a ruling might not come for many years, thereby allowing “much damage” to the power grid.

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The Biden administration has established a “whole-of-government effort” to reduce carbon emissions in the public and private sectors. Beyond the introduction of additional EPA rules that would aim to increase nationwide adoption of electric cars, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently voiced support for a policy that would transition the military to rely exclusively upon electric vehicles by 2030.

West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a frequent skeptic of Biden administration energy policies, announced on Wednesday that he would oppose every EPA nominee from the White House until the power plant rules are reversed.

“This administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hellbent on doing everything in their power to regulate coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence, no matter the cost to energy security and reliability,” the lawmaker said.

DeSantis Shreds Mexico’s President After He Complains About Florida’s Crackdown On Illegal Immigration

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leveled Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in a statement this week after AMLO criticized the governor for his strong anti-illegal immigration policies.

AMLO made the remarks on Monday about legislation that DeSantis later signed into law on Wednesday that The New York Times said last month was “the toughest crackdown” on illegal immigration by any state in the U.S.

“Why does [DeSantis] have to take advantage of people’s pain, of migrants’ pain, of people’s need for political gain?” AMLO said during a press conference. “This is immoral. This is politicking.”

“Now I found out that the Florida governor — imagine, Florida, which is full of migrants — is taking repressive, inhumane measures against migrants in Florida because he wants to be a candidate,” AMLO added. “Can’t he not make another proposal to convince people?”

The remarks come as the U.S.-Mexico border is set to be overrun on Thursday by tens of thousands of illegal aliens this week when Title 42 officially ends. Towns in border states have faced overwhelming numbers of illegal aliens for nearly the entire time that President Joe Biden has been in the White House, but in recent weeks these areas have seen a surge to levels that some officials have described as the worst they’ve ever seen.

DeSantis responded to AMLO’s remarks in a statement that slammed the leftist president for the rampant organized crime in his country that is fueling the illegal immigration and drug crises in the U.S.

“President López Obrador should be cracking down on the cartels running his country and fueling our deadly opioid epidemic instead of worrying about what we are doing in Florida,” DeSantis said. “While President Biden may take his cues from leftist foreign leaders, Floridians won’t let their immigration laws be dictated by Mexico City.”

“I’ll never back down from using the full weight of my office to protect the people of Florida by enforcing our immigration laws, and look forward to signing the strongest legislation against illegal immigration in Florida history,” DeSantis added.

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🔥🔥 DeSantis hits back at the Mexican President for attacking his anti-illegal immigration bill:

“President López Obrador should be cracking down on the cartels running his country and fueling our deadly opioid epidemic instead of worrying about what we are doing in Florida.…

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) May 10, 2023

According to the governor’s office, the new illegal immigration crackdown that DeSantis signed into law this week:

Requires employers to use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of employees, and fines employers who fail to use E-Verify $1,000 per day. Suspends licenses of any employer who knowingly employs illegal aliens, and makes using a fake ID to gain employment a felony. Enhances penalties for human smuggling, including making knowingly transporting five or more illegal aliens or a single illegal alien minor a second-degree felony subject to a $10,000 fine and up to 15 years in prison. Provides $12 million to continue the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program to relocate illegal immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions. Bans local governments and NGOs from issuing identification documents to illegal aliens and invalidates all out-of-state driver licenses issued exclusively to illegal aliens. Requires hospitals to collect and report healthcare costs for illegal aliens.

“The Biden Border Crisis has wreaked havoc across the United States and has put Americans in danger,” DeSantis said in a statement at the signing. “In Florida, we will not stand idly by while the federal government abandons its lawful duties to protect our country.”

“The legislation I signed today gives Florida the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country, fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration,” he added.

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