Free Market Carnivore's Blog

“Richard Windsor” Ducking Out During Investigations?

The woman most dangerous to America’s economy has announced she will leave her post in January.

Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator and the person most blindly loyal to man-made global warming dogma, no matter the (lack of) facts and the cost to man-made economies, has announced she will resign after President Obama’s State of the Union message.

We wrote after the election that while Obama had been elected for another four years, that didn’t mean he would have real political power for that long a time.  Benghazi, Holder’s “Fast and Furious” and Jackson’s scandalous disregard for law could definitely hobble his political clout, at the least.

Jackson has been one of the Obama lieutenants most willing to run roughshod over statutory limitations, most willing to allow bureaucrats to write their own rules (notice there was no Congressional debate over our new mileage standards this time) and totally ignored legal reporting requirements regarding her regulatory agenda.  Most of all, time and again, Jackson has proven oblivious to the economic cost or the impact on industries and jobs from paralyzing regulations hobbling fundamental industries like oil, gas, electricity, transportation and, in effect, all manufacturing and production.

Why now?  We’ve only touched on her illegal use of dummy e-mail accounts, apparently under the name “Richard Windsor.”  The suspicion is that she used alias e-mail accounts to coordinate and prepare new policy initiatives under the radar, avoiding any of the dreaded “transparency” Obama promised.  The Inspector General and Congressional committees are investigating.

While the term “fugitive dust” was not coined on Jackson’s watch at EPA, she was the first official to try to ratchet the limits on “particulate matter” down to the level where pickups on gravel roads would violate Clean Air standards.

Either way, Jackson leaves dozens of proposed regulations and new rules affecting nearly all productive industry and employment, with many impacts yet to be fully addressed.  As shocking and far reaching as her bold attacks on the economy — one coal industry official termed Jackson’s attack on his industry a “regulatory jihad” — the New York Times actually said that Jackson’s departure “comes as many in the environmental movement are questioning Mr. Obama’s commitment to dealing with climate change…”

So maybe Jackson is leaving because in four years, she has not made good on Obama’s messiah-like promise to keep the seas from rising??

H.R. 1433, the bill the would prohibit federal, state and local governments from seizing private property via eminent domain powers for purposes of economic development passed the U.S. House Tuesday on a voice vote, according to Humanevents.com. 

The next step will be the Senate.  We have heard nothing yet regarding whether Senate Majority Leader will be willing to consider the bill or if he will have to be coerced or gone around through legislative legerdemain.  It’s not too early to contact your senators to help build a movement to bring the bill up.

The bill would protect land owners from the efforts governments have been exerting to take over property to hand over to private developers so as to boost their tax revenue base.  Eminent domain had been originally intended only to make roads, airports and utilities construction possible, with proper payment to the land owners.  Instead, governments have been seizing land or, through regulation, devaluing land without any recompense to owners at all.

Sadly, the humanevents.com story noted that the Connecticut land involved in the landmark Kelo Supreme Court case, lies vacant after the city and state spent $78 million to bulldoze the homes and buildings that had been there (“House Passes Bill to Fight Unfair Seizure of Private Property,” 02/29/12) . 

This bill would not bring Susan Kelo’s little pink house back to its block in New London but it would make it significantly harder for governments that are supposed to protect property owners instead become the rapers and confiscators.

The Senate switchboard is 202) 224-3121; for the Senate web page, click here.

Americans’ frustration with the Obama Administration’s hard line policy of favoring the green enviro-zealot position on nearly all things has taken a new turn.

 Congress is searching for some way to get the Keystone XL pipeline under construction.  Obama, as part of his sincere and aggressive policy of raising the cost of energy for every American, rich or poor, announced last week he would not approve the pipeline.

 Left unsaid by him, of course, was that he had to oppose the pipeline because it would create jobs in America, would increase the supply of oil, put downward pressure on oil and gas prices, would import oil from next door from a friendly ally instead of from some dictatorship or terrorist-supporting nation and bolster national security.  Most importantly, he had to oppose the pipeline because it would make gasoline cheaper for American citizens and that was unacceptable.

 Obama instead used the excuse that there wasn’t enough time to study the project’s impact in the 60-day period Congress had set in the recent payroll tax bill.

 Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX.), however, countered that flimsy excuse, noting that we “fought and won World War II in less time than it’s taken to evaluate this project.”  Jim Angle, Fox News correspondent, noted that the government has spent 40 months studying the project (1/25/12).  Angle added that the State Department approved the project after all that study.  It was only then that green groups started protesting, using as an excuse the fact that a portion of the pipeline was routed over the eastern end of the Nebraska Sand Hills.

 Despite the fact that any of Keystone’s spills on its existing pipelines – including one which would closely follow the route of the new one except through eastern Nebraska – could be carried off in five-gallon buckets, Obama put his foot down.

 But there appears to be no limits to how far out on a limb the Democrats will go to stop energy development.  They’re trying to refer to the pipeline as a Republican “earmark.”  They also began raising the question as to whether the Koch brothers – conservative business involved in the energy industry and financial supports of conservative causes – should be subpoenaed about the pipeline.

 At today’s hearing on a bill to go around the White House and give a federal commission authority over the pipeline application, Chairman of the House Energy and Power Subcommittee Ed Whitfield said he would not subpoena the Koch brothers because “Koch had nothing to do with this project.”  When Whitfield announce a hearing recess, Rep. Henry Waxman yelled out like he was part of an Occupy Washington protest.

 “ Are you going to call the Koch brothers during the recess?” Waxman yelled.

 The left must always resort to short slogans that will fit on bumper stickers, so their supporters can memorize the usually-illogical emotional reaction and have something to scream before security hauls them away.  Apparently, they have substituted the “Koch brothers” for “Halliburton,” as they are really chapped anyone would dare to oppose any of the myriad leftist public policy efforts funded by George Soros, numerous liberal foundations or unions.

 We doubt Waxman got hauled away but Whitfield didn’t roll over.  He responded to Waxman’s yell, as shown on Fox’s report.

 “Let me tell you something, “ Whitfield began with some heat, “if you want to talk about that, let’s talk about the millions of dollars the Obama Administration gave to companies like Solyndra…”

 We assume the committee got around to actually discussing the bill at hand, H.R. 3548, “North American Energy Access Act,” introduced by Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry.  The bill would remove authority to review and approve the pipeline from the State Department and authorize the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to review and approve with some route adjustments from the state of Nebraska.  While the State Department has already approved the pipeline, as an executive branch department, the White House can overrule its decision.  Apparently, FERC has more autonomy.

 Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX.) has also just introduced a bill dubbed the “Keystone for a Secure Tomorrow Act of 2012 or “K-FAST” that would immediately approve the pipeline.  Other bills introduced to get the pipeline going include one by Rep. John Hoeven, (R-ND.)

 It’s about some time someone aggressively tries to counter this Administrations fervent efforts to bleed American citizens’ wallets by deliberately boost the cost of gasoline – and any industrial, manufacturing, agricultural and transportation industry that burns fuel to operate.