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16th December 2014, 16:25
Monday, Dec 15, 2014 8:13 PM UTC
Koch-affiliated group compares EPA regulations to CIA’s use of torture
"At least the CIA isn’t torturing Americans," says the objectively terrible American Energy Alliance
Lindsay Abrams Follow
The American Energy Alliance (AEA), the Koch-affiliated non-profit that’s lately been busying itself attacking wind energy credits, often deceptively so, is now resorting to comparing Environmental Protection Agency regulations to the CIA torture report:
[email protected] is raising energy costs, crushing small businesses and killing jobs by the day. http://t.co/s0GjcovcK4 pic.twitter.com/3ibEzcZoTf
— Am. Energy Alliance (@AEA) December 15, 2014
“Whether it’s the costliest regulation in history or the coal-killing power plant rules (that Obama’s law professor says raise “constitutional questions”),” a caption provided at the AEA’s website reads, “it’s clear that the CIA isn’t the only government agency engaged in torture.”
And the kicker: “At least the CIA isn’t torturing Americans.”
Aside from having the audacity to equate regulations aimed at improving public health and mitigating dangerous climate change to the shocking revelations made last week about the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the cartoon manages to pack in the usual lies and misinformation. Among them are the idea that EPA regulations are expensive job-killers: one analysis, from the Natural Resources Defense Council, instead finds that the agency’s efforts to limit carbon pollution from power plants could save U.S. households and businesses $37.4 billion per year on electricity bills while creating 274,000 jobs.
The EPA, by the way, is required under the Clean Air Act to regulate air pollutants it determines are dangerous, and a 2007 Supreme Court decision affirmed that greenhouse gas emissions count as air pollutants. In 2009, an EPA endangerment finding confirmed that atmospheric greenhouse gases indeed “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations,” thus compelling the agency to do something about them.
Here, meanwhile, are the projected benefits from the EPA’s new proposal to limit smog-causing ozone pollution, as determined by an independent scientific panel and broken down by the Environmental Defense Fund:
Prevent up to 4,300 premature deaths
Prevent up to 960,000 asthma attacks among children
Prevent up to 2,300 cases of acute bronchitis among children
Prevent up to one million days when kids miss school
Provide up to $38 billion in public health benefits
h/t Trey Pollard
Lindsay Abrams
Lindsay Abrams is a staff writer at Salon, reporting on all things sustainable. Follow her on Twitter @readingirl, email [email protected]
source
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/15/koch_affiliated_group_compares_epa_regulations_to_ cia_torture_report/
Koch-affiliated group compares EPA regulations to CIA’s use of torture
"At least the CIA isn’t torturing Americans," says the objectively terrible American Energy Alliance
Lindsay Abrams Follow
The American Energy Alliance (AEA), the Koch-affiliated non-profit that’s lately been busying itself attacking wind energy credits, often deceptively so, is now resorting to comparing Environmental Protection Agency regulations to the CIA torture report:
[email protected] is raising energy costs, crushing small businesses and killing jobs by the day. http://t.co/s0GjcovcK4 pic.twitter.com/3ibEzcZoTf
— Am. Energy Alliance (@AEA) December 15, 2014
“Whether it’s the costliest regulation in history or the coal-killing power plant rules (that Obama’s law professor says raise “constitutional questions”),” a caption provided at the AEA’s website reads, “it’s clear that the CIA isn’t the only government agency engaged in torture.”
And the kicker: “At least the CIA isn’t torturing Americans.”
Aside from having the audacity to equate regulations aimed at improving public health and mitigating dangerous climate change to the shocking revelations made last week about the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the cartoon manages to pack in the usual lies and misinformation. Among them are the idea that EPA regulations are expensive job-killers: one analysis, from the Natural Resources Defense Council, instead finds that the agency’s efforts to limit carbon pollution from power plants could save U.S. households and businesses $37.4 billion per year on electricity bills while creating 274,000 jobs.
The EPA, by the way, is required under the Clean Air Act to regulate air pollutants it determines are dangerous, and a 2007 Supreme Court decision affirmed that greenhouse gas emissions count as air pollutants. In 2009, an EPA endangerment finding confirmed that atmospheric greenhouse gases indeed “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations,” thus compelling the agency to do something about them.
Here, meanwhile, are the projected benefits from the EPA’s new proposal to limit smog-causing ozone pollution, as determined by an independent scientific panel and broken down by the Environmental Defense Fund:
Prevent up to 4,300 premature deaths
Prevent up to 960,000 asthma attacks among children
Prevent up to 2,300 cases of acute bronchitis among children
Prevent up to one million days when kids miss school
Provide up to $38 billion in public health benefits
h/t Trey Pollard
Lindsay Abrams
Lindsay Abrams is a staff writer at Salon, reporting on all things sustainable. Follow her on Twitter @readingirl, email [email protected]
source
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/15/koch_affiliated_group_compares_epa_regulations_to_ cia_torture_report/