Right Reason

A video from 2010 recently surfaced, showing EPA Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz explaining his philosophy of enforcement, which he admitted was rather crude, but went ahead anyway to tell his audience:

“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean.  They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them.”

This revelation has created quite a stir in the media, with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denying to the press corps that the EPA’s standard operating procedure is to crucify oil and gas producers. “Clearly, there is not an effort of the nature that you talk about,” said Carney.

The truth is, the EPA has been using these thuggish tactics and “making examples” of corporations for years.

Under the Clinton Administration, Carol M. Browner, who served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, initiated a law suit against seven utility companies across the country; Tampa Electric Company, American Electric Power, FirstEnergy, Illinois Power, Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Company, Cinergy, and the Southern Company. Tampa Electric Company was the first utility to enter into a settlement with the EPA and DOJ.

The Notice of Violation and Complaint against Tampa Electric Company, initiated in November 1999, charged that TECO “violated the law at their power plants by making major modifications to the plants without installing equipment required to control smog, acid rain and soot.”

As a part of the agreement, the Consent Decree states “WHEREAS, Tampa Electric has denied and continues to deny the violations alleged in the NOV and the Complaint; maintains that it has been and remains in compliance with the Clean Air Act and is not liable for civil penalties or injunctive relief; and states that it is agreeing to the obligations imposed by this Consent Decree solely to avoid the costs and uncertainties of litigation and to improve the environment in and around the Tampa Bay area of Florida…” This statement clearly proves that Tampa Electric Company settled to avoid prolonged and costly litigation by the EPA and the DOJ.

The News Release from the EPA stated “This agreement is the first to result from a national enforcement action aimed at cutting emissions from coal-fired power plants… We are hopeful that other utilities will follow Tampa Electric example, and help bring similar clean-air benefits to many other areas in this country.”

In the settlement agreement, Tampa Electric Company agreed to pay a $3.5 million dollar civil penalty and to invest between $10 and $11 million dollars on “environmentally beneficial projects in the region designed to mitigate the impact of emissions from the company’s plants.” TECO also committed to a $1.2 billion investment over a ten year period to provide cleaner energy by retro-fitting existing power plants and increasing the use of renewable energy sources to provide electricity to its customers.

As a customer of TECO, seeing advertisements on television and receiving updates in the mail, and doing further research which revealed the EPA lawsuit in 1999, I questioned a source in the industry who builds power plants if there was a connection. He flatly stated “If you are asking if a gun was put to their head…ABSOLUTELY!”

In 2004 Tampa Electric Company announced that it “voluntarily” joined the Chicago Climate Exchange.  It has also pursued clean energy development and implementation with investments such as TECO Guatemala.

Then EPA administrator Carol M. Browner grew up in Florida, and headed the Department of Environmental Regulation from 1991-1993.  In December 2008 President-elect Barack Obama named Browner to be the Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy , informally known as the “Climate” or “Energy Czar”. In 2011 she left the Obama Administration, and is currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow of George Soros’ Center for American Progress and a member of the organization’s Executive Committee.

The EPA has been bullying and intimidating corporations for a long time, and their standard operating procedure is precisely what Al Armendariz was caught articulating on that video tape.

The ever-expanding and over-reaching regulatory powers of the EPA must be reined in by Congress. Common sense needs to be restored to environmental decision making, and economic impact must be considered in all environmental legislation.

Start with approving the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Cross posted on Big Government.com

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• Trevor Loudon: Occupy DC Demands Release of Cop Killer [EXPLICIT]
  

Atlas Shrugs – “Palestinian” Nuremberg Laws: Muslim Sentenced to Death for Selling his Machpela House to a Jew

Townhall.com: Department of Energy-Backed Solar Company Lays Off Workers. Is There an Echo in Here? – Includes a good list of all of the “green” energy companies who received your tax dollars in the Stimulus Bill that have gone bankrupt. We will NEVER get our money back. President Obama has been “doubling down” on green, gambling our money away!

Townhall.com – David Limbaugh: Katie Pavlich’s ‘Fast and Furious’ - The arrogance and incompetence of the Justice Department has led to the death of at least one border agent and who knows how many innocents across the border in Mexico.

E.P.A. advancing “Environmental Justice” – Plan EJ2014 – through Title VI of Civil Rights Act.

What Happens in 2014?

“In 2014, EPA will make an assessment of its progress in achieving the goals of Plan EJ 2014. Based on this assessment, EPA will produce a report on the accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and next steps for continuing the Agency’s efforts to make environmental justice an integral part of every decision.”

Federal court validates cattlemen’s concerns with EPA

Dad arrested over 4 year old daughter’s drawing of gun

National Resources Committee information on the President’s future plans for America’s energy supply per the FY 2013 budget:

“President Obama’s budget shows DECLINING revenue from offshore drilling.  According to the President’s own FY 13 budget proposal, in 2011, the federal government collected $1 billion in OCS rents and bonuses from lease sales. In 2012—the last year of the current five year plan, the budget anticipates collecting over $2 billion in rents and bonuses. In the first year of President Obama’s five year plan, rents and bonuses fall by 58 percent to only $852 million. By the last year of President Obama’s five year plan, the government is only collecting $569 million—a 72 percent drop from 2012 anticipated returns.”

This is just one item. To read more, click here.

THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THIS IS TO STOP OBAMA!

Farmers in Washington will lose 61% of their land with these EPA regulations! When will America see what is happening? Hopefully before it is too late!

The Secret Government EPA a tool for UN Agenda 21.

The EPA Is Dreaming of a Blackout Christmas | Vision to America. Don’t you love how they wait for the holidays to announce these things?

There have been several reports of late that reveal that new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency will cause utility providers to shut down a number of coal-fired power plants.

It is time to look at the history of the thuggish tactics that have been utilized by the EPA in promoting a “green” energy agenda, specifically during the Clinton/Gore administration.

A press release from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dated November 3, 1999 reported “U.S. SUES ELECTRIC UTILITIES IN UNPRECEDENTED ACTION TO ENFORCE THE CLEAN AIR ACT”.  The release  states that “seven separate suits allege that the electric utility companies — American Electric Power, Cinergy, FirstEnergy, Illinois Power, Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Company, Southern Company, Tampa Electric Company — or their subsidiaries, and the TVA , violated the Clean Air Act by making major modifications to many of their plants without installing the equipment required to control smog, acid rain and soot.”

In Florida,  Tampa Electric Company (TECO) was the first utility in the country to reach a settlement agreement with the EPA and the Department of Justice.  Under the terms of the settlement agreement, as outlined in a statement from then EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner, Tampa Electric Company agreed to pay $3.5 million in civil penalties, along with another “$10 million for environmentally beneficial projects designed to mitigate the impact of their pollution.”  The entire Consent Decree can be viewed here. For entire article on Big Government, click here.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held on August 2 – 6, 2010 in Bonn, Germany.  It was the third round of U. N. climate change negotiations with representatives from 178 governments present.  The meeting was designed to set the agenda for what they hoped to accomplish at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico in November and December of last year.

The information in their press release  conveyed the urgency of the U. N. to get this moving forward with solid agreements reached by the November/December conference.

The text in this press release is so extremely important for all of us to understand that paragraphs have been copied verbatim. Click here to read the rest of this column on bigovernment.com

During his campaign to become the 44^th President of the United States, then candidate Barack Obama stated in an interview that “under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

Many of us remember this statement as it was played repeatedly on news programs.  Read more in my latest post in the June 2011 Edition of Smart Girl Nation here.