TUCSON, Ariz., July 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Hundreds of advocates from across the Southeast descended
on Atlanta on Tuesday for
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearings on rules intended to
"dramatically cut emissions" from coal-fired electricity generating
stations.
The most dramatic cuts come from shutting plants down—and that
is what will happen to those that cannot pay the enormous cost of
meeting draconian rules. In fact, it may be impossible for many
plants to comply at all.
Coal generates about 40% of electricity nationwide—and more than
60% in Georgia. As President Obama
correctly predicted, shuttering coal-fired plants will necessarily
cause electrical bills to skyrocket.
The Climate Reality Project, which favors the rules, offered
free Ben and Jerry's ice cream to demonstrators.
"Poor and unemployed people won't be eating ice cream when their
power gets cut off," stated Jane Orient, M.D., president of
Physicians for Civil Defense. "And when the price of energy goes
up, the price of everything goes up."
Increasing cost is not the only problem, she noted. The nation's
electrical grid is already stretched to the limit, and there is no
immediate way to replace the electricity from coal. Solar and wind
won't replace it—ever. They must have a reliable backup that works
when the sun is not shining, and the wind is not blowing fast
enough (but not too fast).
Industry such as automobile manufacturing must have reliable,
affordable electricity.
"The EPA claims of health benefits from the rules are bogus,"
Orient stated. "It uses secret calculations based on secret data.
Its assertion that a tiny amount of dust in outdoor air causes
asthma attacks or sudden death doesn't even make sense."
The rules are claimed to prevent long-term climate change,
including hotter summers and more intense storms. But even if
carbon dioxide from China doesn't
offset the reduction in the U.S., climate models show at best a
negligible decrease in global mean temperature. At the recent
meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in Knoxville, Tenn., Willis Eschenbach stated it would be comparable
to the difference in the air temperature at his head and at his
feet.
Storms have been less intense recently, and they did not
increase with the six-fold increase in the use of hydrocarbon fuels
since the Industrial Revolution.
"Environmentalist demonstrators will go home," Orient said.
"They will do nothing to help poor people in Georgia cope with their lowered standard of
living."
Physicians for Civil Defense distributes information to help to
save lives in the event of disaster.
Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D.,
(520) 323-3110, janeorientmd@gmail.
SOURCE Physicians for Civil Defense