EPA

Mr. Trump: Tear Down This Wall!

Anita Christy

Which wall?

The laws, rules, regulations, executive branch and federal agency proclamations and issuances, memos, guidance documents, bulletins, circulars, announcements with practical regulatory effect, “significant” agency guidance documents, and thousands of other such documents that are subject to little scrutiny or democratic accountability, and that have stifled entrepreneurship, jobs, the economy, and innovation.  

That Wall.  Tear it down, Mr. Trump.

Of the 10 highest-ever Federal Register regulation page counts, Obama is responsible for seven. Obama keeps breaking his own record! 77,687 (2014); 78,961 (2012); 79,311 (2013); 80,260 (2015); 81,247 (2011); 81,405 (2010).; and 91,642 (2016).  That’s an Atlas-back-breaking total of over 570,000 pages.  There are some "fact checkers" who quibble about number of pages versus number of regulations, blah, blah.  However, the point is this:  Americans are being strangled by regulations.

This is what the Regulatory Wall looked like in 2013, before Obama "hit his stride."  

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Is Power from the Navajo Generating Station too Costly for CAP?

Anita Christy

by Patrick O’Malley

Central Arizona Project (CAP) provides Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima counties with 1.5 million acre feet of water every year. Navajo Generating Station (NGS) is the major source of electrical power to CAP, and electricity is CAP’s biggest operating expense. NGS continues to be one of the biggest problems facing CAP.

The EPA Wants $1.1 Billion in Pollution Controls

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants NGS to add additional pollution controls with a price tag of $1.1 billion. A letter of understanding by the Directors of the EPA, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy in January gave NGS more time to study the issue, but it’s not likely to change the answer.  All three of those Directors at the EPA have since resigned, so it’s not up to them anymore.

Recently Rep. Matt Salmon sent a letter to the EPA asking them to take into account the economic impact on Arizona of additional pollution controls at NGS for negligible air quality improvement.   The EPA has been known to take economic issues into account in the past. But will they do it for a coal fired power plant?

Navajo Tribal Council Wants 15 Times More in Lease Payments

Plus, there’s a new problem for NGS.   The Navajo Generating Station is located on Navajo Nation land, and the coal it burns comes from a mine on Navajo land.  Both the lease and the coal mining agreement are up for renegotiation.

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Report on the 11/14/2013 EPA Hearing: Navajo Generating Station

Anita Christy

by Patrick O’Malley
Precinct Committeeman (LD12)

At the EPA Hearing on November 14, the EPA asked those who wished to speak to come up and take a seat at the front table two at a time for efficiency. So I’m making my comments and the guy sitting next to me is with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Is he supposed to be the balance to my conservative comments? No, we are both there trying to convince the EPA to leave Navajo Generating Station (NGS) alone. Or at least leave something in operation after they make their final ruling, because we both clearly see the damage changes at NGS will have on Arizona’s economy. It’s not just a federal authority out of control or state’s rights issue. This agency is messing with our everyday lives.

There were about 200 people at the hearing and about 100 of them made statements. It broke pretty cleanly into the Sierra Club wanting quick, drastic changes that will close NGS, and everybody else. Everybody else included legislators, union workers, Central Arizona Project, farmers, Indian Tribes, and average citizens. Rep. Warren Petersen and Joy Staveley from Canyoneers wanted the EPA completely out of our business and to back off completely from NGS. They have the right principles for the long term fight with the EPA, but I’m afraid it’s too late for principles to triumph on NGS.

The Technical Working Group (TWG) Negotiates a Surrender

In June of this year the Technical Working Group (TWG) got together and proposed a negotiated surrender as opposed to having the EPA force them into an unconditional surrender. TWG consists of Salt River Project and the Department of the Interior as major owners of NGS; Central Arizona Project (CAP) as the biggest customer of NGS; Gila River Indian Community as a major customer of CAP; the Navajo Nation because NGS is on their land, and they supply the coal to make it go; and two environmental groups, Environmental Defense Fund and Western Resource Advocates. The Sierra Club was originally part of TWG, but walked out when the plan wasn’t severe enough to satisfy them.

So why didn’t the State of Arizona get a seat at the TWG table? Technically because the EPA is dealing directly with the Navajo Nation and it’s not an Arizona issue, but it’s safe to assume the other members of TWG were afraid a State of Arizona representative couldn’t be trusted to surrender fast enough.

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The War on Coal

Anita Christy

by Patrick O’Malley
Precinct Committeeman (LD12)

The war on coal is not over and writing your Congressman is not enough. Obama’s EPA is fighting this war for him, and so far they’ve managed to keep the issue out of Congress by using new EPA rules and executive orders.

The prime target in Arizona is the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Page which generates 90% of the electricity used by the Central Arizona Project (CAP).   CAP is the major water supplier for Tucson and all the cities in the Phoenix area, plus all the farms in between. Mohave power plant is already gone; shutting it down made more sense than complying with new EPA regulations. Coronado, Cholla, and Apache power plants are also targeted.

The owners of NGS recently revealed their grand plan to comply with EPA demands without spending a billion dollars. They will shut down part of the plant, so they don’t produce as much pollution. They won’t produce as much electricity either, but that’s somebody else’s problem.

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Pelosi and the Democrats want to Destroy the Navajo Nation

Anita Christy

Thanks to Andy McKinney for the following post.  

Dear Friends,

Nancy Pelosi is attacking the Navajo nation with a fury not seen for over a century.  She and her Democrat Party allies have set their sights on the economic and social destruction of the Navajo nation.

Fifty percent of the economically active people on the Navajo reservation are unemployed.  The nation participates in three interconnected operations providing $100,000,000 for the Navajo people. These are the Kayenta coal mine, the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) and the railroad that connects the two.  Losing the NGS means the loss of this entire economy, not just for the Navajo people, but also for the people who benefit and depend on it for their own livelihoods.

Pelosi wants to close the generating station on utterly bogus environmental grounds.  

 She and her Democrat Party Pals want to crush the economic life out of the Navajos.  For her, Navajos shouldn’t be allowed to have high paying railroad, mining, or power generating jobs. For her, food stamps and poverty are all the Navajo people can aspire to.

Fortunately, the Navajo coal miners are represented by the United Mine Workers of America UMWA).  Perhaps the Democrat Party will not throw their allies in big labor under the bus in favor of their allies in the environmental wacko movement.  Ninety-eight percent of the UMWA members at Kayenta are Navajo.

Save the Navajo.  Stop the Democrat Party.

 

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Rep. Paul Gosar Rallies Thousands to Fight for Energy Jobs

Anita Christy

The issue of jobs in Arizona is critical, as Patrick O’Malley has explained in two articles:  The War on Coal, and The War on Coal: Take Action.  Mr. O’Malley also illustrates the devastating effect that the EPA’s actions will have on raising the cost of water and electricity to all Arizonans.  Under the Obama Administration, the EPA has taken charge over our lives.  We no longer have a well behaved Rottweiler under control in our household.  The Rottweiler has taken control.    

As you can see from this press release issued by Republican Congressman Paul Gosar, he’s helping us fight off the EPA’s belligerance.  But he cannot do it alone!  Patrick O’Malley has provided two sample emails that you can send to the EPA, copying him, so he can physically and publicly hand them to the EPA at the hearing on November 14.  The carbon letter must be emailed by Nov. 8.  The NOx letter must be emailed by Nov. 14.  Please copy Patrick O’Malley on both of these emailed letters.  His email address is pat.o@azcitrus.com. 

Here is Rep. Gosar’s Press Release:

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The War on Coal: Take Action!

Anita Christy

by Patrick O’Malley
Precinct Committeeman LD12

On October 21 we talked about the EPA’s War on Coal and the power plants they are targeting in Arizona. The Sierra Club is bragging that they’ve closed down 150 coal power plants since 2010, and they want to make the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Page, AZ number 151. That’s the plant that supplies 90% of the electricity used to operate the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal.

Those of us outside of the Page area won’t be part of the economic disaster that will take place in the Navajo Nation if NGS is shut down. They are the ones who will lose good paying jobs at the power plant and the coal mine. But everyone in Arizona will be affected, because, long term, somebody will have to pay to replace a perfectly good power plant with decades of life left in it. And that will be all of us paying more for electricity and water.

There are two EPA issues coming up right away that affect coal fired power plants in Arizona. The first is carbon capture with a deadline for the public to comment by November 8.  You can comment by email.

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Please Support Matt Salmon’s Shrink Our Spending (SOS) Initiative

Anita Christy

 

The bills that Representative Matt Salmon (CD5) has introduced so far are identified below.  Click HERE to track each bill as it is introduced.  

H.R. 4231 – Defunds East-West Center – Dept of State – $ 16,700,000

H.R. 4362 – Prohibits funding to United Nations Population Fund – Dept of State – $ 35,000,000

H.R. 4379 – Defunds National Labor Relations Board – Agency – $274,224,000

H.R. 4482 –  Defunds EPA’s Science and Technology Acct – EPA – $759,156,000

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EPA’s Secret Deals with Environmentalists: Sue and Settle

Anita Christy

The EPA is under investigation for a practice called Sue and Settle. Environmentalists in government and private organizations have found ways to create new regulations by fashioning lawsuits tailored to have courts institute policy changes. Both parties involved in the lawsuits secretly decide in advance what the outcome will be and how much taxpayer money will be transferred to the environmental group in the settlement. In other words, they are exploiting the courts to change laws, and in the process, helping to fund radical environmental groups without legislative or taxpayer consent. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been given to these groups.

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