BCT Editorial – 7/11/10

Look west; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 11, 2010.

There are at least a couple of points the editorials didn’t address.

First, is the reduction of “sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants by 71 percent from 2005 levels by 2014 and nitrogen oxide emissions by 52 percent in the same time frame” necessary?  The editorial asserts “The Associated Press said the Environmental Protection Agency predicts the rule would prevent about 14,000 to 36,000 premature deaths a year,” but doesn’t address the claim’s credibility.  For example, what is the EPA’s record regarding previous mortality predictions?

Second, the editorial doesn’t address the cost of the reductions, either in absolute terms (dollars per consumer) or relative to the alleged benefit (decreased mortality).  Before someone cries that any cost is OK as long as one life is saved, that’s not true.  Thousands of decisions are made every day that balance cost vs. perfect safety.  For example, even if it were technically possible, could we afford perfectly safe cars, airplanes, trains, houses, et cetera?

Finally, the Obama administration (and the Times) has a credibility problem regarding coal-fired power plants.  How do we know alleged pollution concerns are not a red herring?  As you recall, Mr. Obama is a believer in the religion of manmade global warming and would love to see the end of coal-fired power plants.  Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle (January 2008), Mr. Obama said, “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.  Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations.  That will cost money.  They will pass that money on to consumers … What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there … So if somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted”  During the 2008 campaign, Mr. Biden said, “No coal plants here in America.  Build them, if they’re going to build them, over there [Red China].  Make them clean because they’re killing you.”