Monday, June 2, 2014

EPA rule on coal-fired power plants is out

As expected, this morning the EPA announced its proposed rules for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-burning power plants.

A guy like me really has nothing to add to the chatter that's going on about this. Expect people to say the same things they've always said about the EPA, the president, the War on Coal and global warming / climate change / climate disruption / whatever you want to call it.

Going along with that, I'll say what I've said for a long time. The climate change debate is something that is overlaid on underlying beliefs and prejudices. It gives people the good feeling of fighting for what's right in addition to being able to find an expert who agrees totally with whatever they believe or want to believe. And I can't believe how many people take their beliefs in this personally. I understand how a person who works in the coal industry or a person in an environmental protection nonprofit could do that, but there are people with no personal or financial stake who ... they would would rather have someone call their baby ugly than disagree with their position on this debate.


When I covered meetings of local government bodies for a living, I came up with a few unspoken and unwritten rules. Among them: The shorter the agenda, the longer the meeting. Another: No important decision will be made until each person has made the same point at least three times. In the matter of climate change, we're talking three gazillion times.

So I will keep my ever-changing opinion on this debate to myself for now. If people valued my opinion and looked to me as a (cliche alert) thought leader, I would share it. For now, why add to the clutter?

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P.S. Don't be surprised if I take a few days off from the blog. My computer is working, but I'm trying to earn some money and I'm tired.