Obama Moves Closer To His Dream Of Bankrupting Companies That Build Coal-Powered Plants

Remember when Obama said this: "So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them, because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

That was a quotation that voters should have taken far more seriously in 2008 than they did. Reminiscent of the "spread the wealth" comment to Joe the Plumber.

Well, Obama has moved a step closer to making his dream of bankrupting those companies a reality.

The Washington Post reports that the EPA will enforce a new rule requiring new power plants to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electriciy produced. This is much less than the 1,768 pounds per megawatt that the average coal-powered plant already produces.

The Post states that this rule "dooms any proposal to build a coal-fired plant that does not have costly carbon controls."

The three last words of that sentence are significant: "costly carbon controls."

This is a fulfilled campaign promise for Obama. He promised to make it so expensive to build a coal-powered plant that it would by necessity put the company that built it out of business. And that is exactly what he has just accomplished with this new proposal.

Needless to say, this is not only a threat to companies that use coal power. It is also a threat to the coal mining industry, as by extension a reduction in coal-powered plants will reduce the demand for coal.

Obama lost many of the coal-producing states in 2008. But there were some that he won, notably Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, and his home state of Illinois. Combined, those states accounted for 90 electoral votes in 2008. Not enough to change the election - but almost enough.

And if those states go read (minus Illinois, which I think it's safe to say Obama will win), that almost certainly spells doom for Obama's re-election chances.

Hopefully, voters are paying attention this time.

---