The Constitution Isn't Kindling

Will Democrats Continue To Aid Obama’s War On Coal Families?

Today, Dems Have An Opportunity To Help Rein In The EPA’s ‘Constitutionally Reckless’ War On Coal Families
McConnell / Paul Amendment ‘prohibition on withholding highway funds from States that refuse to submit State Implementation Plans’ to the EPA: “To establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to the regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency of greenhouse gas emissions, which may include a prohibition on withholding highway funds from States that refuse to submit State Implementation Plans required under the Clean Power Plan of the Agency.” (S.Amdt.836, Introduced 3/25/15)

• “Earlier in March, McConnell encouraged states to opt out of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan with an op-ed in the Lexington Herald-Leader. On Thursday, McConnell took it a step further by sending a letter to all 50 governors...” (“McConnell Is Now Going Outside Of The Senate To Obstruct Obama,” New Republic, 3/20/15)

Harvard Law Professor: ‘Burning The Constitution Should Not Become Part Of Our National Energy Policy’
PROF. LAURENCE TRIBE: “In my considered view, EPA is off on a constitutionally reckless mission.” (U.S. House Of Representatives, Committee On Energy And Commerce, Hearing, P.1, 3/17/15)

• TRIBE: “EPA is attempting an unconstitutional trifecta: usurping the prerogatives of the States, Congress and the Federal Courts all at once. Burning the Constitution should not become part of our national energy policy.” (U.S. House Of Representatives, Committee On Energy And Commerce, Hearing, P.ii, 3/17/15)

JODY FREEMAN & RICHARD LAZARUS, Harvard Law Professors: “The EPA has no legal authority—none—to force the states to file plans. The agency cannot cut off highway funds…” (Politico Magazine, 3/25/15)

Liberals Terrified McConnell Plan To Fight EPA ‘Might Actually Work’
Salon: “Mitch McConnell is going all in on his promise ‘do everything [he] can to try to stop’ the EPA.” (Salon, 3/20/15)

• Greg Sargent: “It might actually work.” (Greg Sargent, The Plum Line, 3/23/15)
• Think Progress: “So an epic struggle for the fate of America and the world has begun. … It is McConnell who is waging a war — a war on humanity, a war on America’s future, a war on the world’s children and indeed the next 50 generations, since man-made climate changes are essentially irreversible on a time scale of centuries.” (ThinkProgress, 3/20/15)
• New York Times: “The campaign of Mr. McConnell, the Senate majority leader, is aimed at stopping a set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations requiring...” (“McConnell Urges States To Help Thwart Obama’s ‘War On Coal,’” The New York Times, 3/19/15)

OBAMA ADMIN: ‘A War On Coal Is Exactly What’s Needed,’ ‘Make Examples Out Of People’
DANIEL P. SCHRAG, White House Climate Adviser: ‘A war on coal is exactly what’s needed’ “The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants. …a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.” (The New York Times, 6/25/13)

Obama EPA Official: ‘Make examples out of people’ “The Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish (sic) town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years. And so you make examples out of people...” (Forbes, 4/26/12)

THEN-SEN. BARACK OBAMA: “Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, even, you know, regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I'm capping greenhouse gases, 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.” (The San Francisco Chronicle, 1/17/08)

THEN-SEN. BARACK OBAMA: “So if somebody wants to build a coal fired 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 is being emitted.”(The San Francisco Chronicle, 1/17/08)

“Regulations for new coal plants would increase electricity prices by as much as 80 percent, an Obama administration official told lawmakers on Tuesday. Julio Friedmann, deputy assistant secretary for clean coal at the Department of Energy, told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight board that carbon capture and storage technology was still not ready for prime time.” (Washington Examiner, 2/11/14)

‘Examples’ Made In Kentucky: 20,000+ Impacted By Democrat War On Coal Families
“…in coal country, the changes have meant layoffs. Nowhere has been hit harder than eastern Kentucky, where more than 6,000 miners have lost their jobs since January 2012. For each mining job, there are estimated to be at least three directly related jobs, like trucking, that also disappear.” (Fox News, 1/16/14)

• “According to [Bill] Bissett, [the president of the Kentucky Coal Association] the coal industry has lost more than 6,000 direct jobs, and 18,000 people indirectly connected to the coal industry are out of work. Coal production in Eastern Kentucky is down 30 percent...” (Commonwealth Journal [KY], 1/7/14)

COAL MINER: ‘Never Know From Day To Day If You Are Going To Have A Job’>
GARY LOCKHART, Coal Miner: “Our biggest worries now are just trying to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, telling your family that this was all caused by the EPA, directed by our President for his political agenda.” (Coal Listening Session, Kentucky, 12/6/13)

PHILLIP CONLEY, Coal Miner: “I just believe the Obama administration has taken a huge impact on the coal industry and Appalachia. Anymore, you just never know from day to day if you are going to have a job or not.” Fox News, 1/16/14)

HOWARD ABSHIRE, Coal Miner: “I say to you, Mister President of the United States… We're hurting.  You say you're the president of the people?  Well we're people too. No one loves the mountains no more than we do. We live here. We crawl between them. We get up every morning and we go on top of a mountain in a strip job in the cold rain, snow, to put bread on the table.” (Coal Listening Session, Kentucky, 12/6/13)

• ABSHIRE: “Come and look at our little children, look at our people, Mr. President. You're not hurting for a job; you've got one. I don't have one.” (Coal Listening Session, Kentucky, 12/6/13)

JUSTINE BRADFORD, Teacher: “Dear EPA:  Will you please tell Santa Claus all we want for Christmas this year is to be able to work. Here in Eastern Kentucky we too are real people.” (Coal Listening Session, Kentucky, 12/6/13)

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