Morning Bell: Make Them Regulate
Conn Carroll /
Commenting on the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to classify carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses as a danger to the public’s health and welfare, Frank O’Donnell, president of the eco-leftist Clean Air Watch, told the Los Angeles Times, “The Obama administration now has the legal equivalent of a .44 magnum … The bullets aren’t loaded yet, but they could be.” If our economy ever hopes to recover, it is imperative that the American people reject the Obama administration’s audacious blackmail threat.
The EPA’s endangerment finding for greenhouse gas emissions on Friday will not be finalized until a mandated 60-day comment period is completed. But once it becomes final, the ruling will trigger massive economy-wide EPA regulations. New York Law School professor David Schoenbrod tells the Washington Post: “This would be a regulatory maze far exceeding anything we’ve seen before.” According to the US Chamber of Commerce, regulating carbon through the Clean Air Act would affect at least one million mid-sized commercial buildings, including: 1/5 of all food service businesses, 1/3 of all health care businesses, 1/2 of the entire lodging industry, and even 10% of all buildings used for worship. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis has estimated that EPA carbon regulations will cause annual job losses exceeding 800,000 for several years and a cumulative GDP loss of $7 trillion by 2029.