And here's how they plan on making more gov't jobs............
(PJ Tatler) – On April 13, 2011, the EPA publishing its ruling that Texas must comply with the Clean Air Transport Rule (CATR). Using the CATR, the EPA is set to include Texas in the national sulfur dioxide program, without any comment from any of the state’s stakeholders, political leaders or industry leaders allowed. No public review, just
bam!, Texans get the EPA jackboot. The EPA’s effort to strong arm Texas away from its successful and flexible state-level clean air program, established in the 1990s and which has enjoyed bipartisan support, and into the EPA’s less effective national program has been building since President Obama’s inauguration. The CATR ruling may bring that battle to a head.
As one might expect, the mostly Republican Texas Congressional delegation is very unhappy with the EPA’s actions. The Texas Democrats apparently took a pass.
It’s a rare moment when Republicans and unions agree on much, but as it turns out, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union agrees: The EPA is dangerously overreaching in its CATR finding.
The letter strongly protests the EPA’s failure to allow for any comment on the rule change, and expresses the IBEW’s concern that “including Texas in the final CATR for SO2 would result in significant increases in electricity rates, temporary or even permanent shutdown of existing coal-fired power plants, reduced capacity reserves and enormous job losses. This action would directly jeopardize the jobs of approximately 1,500 IBEW members working at six different power plants across the state of Texas.”
