Coal and Energy
A US District Court of Appeals has recently struck down regulations on coal from Obama’s EPA like a parent slapping their kid’s hand away from the cookie jar, and that’s a good thing. If the administration had gotten its way, numerous coal plants around the country would have been shut down to “reduce emissions.”
A lot of people don’t know that Wisconsin gets 60% of its electricity from coal burning power plants, and no other source of energy comes close. Wisconsin does not have its own reserves of coal, so most of the coal we use is shipped by rail from Wyoming, which produces nearly 41% of the nation’s coal.
Coal is an important part of everyday life in Wisconsin and across the country. Coal keeps the lights on, runs our refrigerators, and powers our computers. Whether the greenies and lefties want to admit it or not, without coal, we couldn’t have the standard of living we have today.
That hasn’t stopped the Obama Administration from trying to play Ebenezer Scrooge with America’s coal supply. Another lump of coal so you can cook a meal for your family? Bah Humbug.
My sideburns are NOT as outrageous
as my energy policy!
If Obamanezer Scrooge had gotten his way with coal powered plants, the cost of electricity in Wisconsin, and around the country would have skyrocketed, and the people who are already scrimping to make ends meet would have been hit the hardest. Think about it, a one percenter won’t be affected the same way as middle and lower income families, college students and seniors living on fixed incomes that feel the hit to their wallets the most.
American’s don’t want handouts (or more expensive electricity), we want real work, jobs worth doing, and when we have access to abundant and inexpensive energy, we prosper. When energy is expensive, it’s harder for our companies to compete with foreign companies and jobs move overseas, it increases the cost of doing business that has to be passed on to consumers or taken from profits. We already have enough shuttered factories because of the cost of doing business in our state and our country, we don’t need any more shuttered factories.
Besides providing us with inexpensive energy, technology is making coal cleaner and more efficient all the time. Researchers are currently working on ways to liquefy coal, which will increase the value of the product, and drastically cut down on shipping costs and emissions.
Contrast that with the administration’s preferred method of giving away taxpayer money to their preferred “green jobs companies” and we see that Obama’s energy policy is not a serious discussion on the best way to move forward, but a way to give kickbacks to his friends and appease his greenie base, all at the taxpayers’ expense.
Not only does coal provide us with the low cost energy we need to be a manufacturing state (manufacturing takes up HUGE amounts of electricity and is one of the top industries in Wisconsin), it also provides jobs for thousands of people across the country in Wyoming, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. That’s important because these people need jobs in order to feed their families, and buy products that we manufacture right here in Wisconsin.
Having reliable low cost energy is an important factor in being competitive with the rest of the world and other states. Lowering costs of energy and increasing abundance of energy are keys to expanding our economy and our future prosperity. Lower cost energy leaves more money in our pockets to spend on other things, this helps our economy do better. It helps families do better. I wish more people understood this.
