Obama's National Energy Tax

 Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: While the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl and the Taliban 5 has dominated the headlines, there was another major, albeit anticipated, announcement from the Obama Administration on Monday. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy declared that the nation's power plants would have to reduce carbon emissions by 30% over the next 16 years.

The Obama Administration is imposing by regulation its radical cap and trade agenda that failed to pass in 2010. And the plan is radical. Consider some of the reaction to this news:

"President Obama's new EPA rule is more proof that Washington isn't working for Kentucky. I will fiercely oppose the president's attack on Kentucky's coal industry."

"There is a right way and a wrong way of doing things, and the Obama Administration has got it wrong once again. This new regulation threatens our economy…"

Those statements did not come from Republicans, but from Democrats who are desperate to distance themselves from Obama's latest big government power grab. But the notion that Democrats will go to Washington and fight Obama is absurd. Every Senate Democrat voted for Obamacare!

Monday's move by the EPA is a declaration of war on coal, which the Wall Street Journal notes is "the cheapest and most plentiful source for power, providing 40% of the nation's electricity."

If you impose regulations that aim to eliminate the nation's cheapest and most plentiful source of electricity, you are guaranteeing higher electricity rates by imposing a new tax on businesses and consumers.

Think your electricity bill is too high now? Barack Obama promised that under his cap and trade plan "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." Now he's making good on that promise, and it won't be good for the economy.

For the record, carbon emissions have declined since 2007. Why? Thanks to a decline in economic activity -- the Great Recession and its aftermath.

In 2010, climate researcher Pierre Friedlingstein of the University of Exeter told USA Today, "There is a close link between the world's gross domestic product and emissions of carbon dioxide." According to Professor Friedlingstein's research, "The emissions decrease … from 2008 to 2009 was directly related to the economic crisis."

In 2011, one British newspaper published a story on reduced carbon emissions with this headline: "Significant Reduction In UK Emissions Attributed To Recession."

Professor Eric Larson of Princeton wrote in 2012, "Recent declines in carbon emissions are the result of a combination of factors. …The recession, however, appears to be the most significant factor in the decline."

Do you get it, friends?

Carbon emissions are one indication of economic growth. Declining carbon emissions are a sign of recession.

This is what the left's global warming, "cap and tax" policy is all about -- capping energy production and taxing our economy. It's a lose/lose proposition.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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