The Clean Power Plan is Unconstitutional – Straight Up!
A flurry of comments has been made on the Clean Power Plan proposed by the EPA. Some of those comments came with actual study results behind them. The ERCOT study presents similar results based on my paper published in Fortnightly in the October issue. Texas will likely see a carbon price/cost somewhere between $20-$30/ton depending on the effectiveness in the building blocks described in the plan. I do try to make it clear in my paper, the biggest issue is not the cost, but how that cost is distributed among states.
The one comment making the headlines, which personally resonates with the paper I wrote, is by Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe – The Clean Power Plan Is Unconstitutional. In essence, I discuss this constitutional concern, but arising from the state’s economic pain. In my paper, I demonstrate the disproportional economic impact among the states and I actually run a sophisticated power model to do the mathematical calculations of the individual state impacts. Mr. Tribe paper is more eloquently focused on the constitutional merit by saying “… such federal commandeering of state governments defeats political accountability and violates principles of federalism that are basic to our constitutional order.”
The significant rebuttal to Mr. Tribe is his monetary gain from Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal company. I will not present arguments for Mr. Tribe’s potential bias or honor, but I will note my work on the Clean Power Plan was done with ZERO, NONE, NO monetary gain – to the dismay of my family finances. No one commissioned or paid or has paid for my work done on Clean Power Plan. I took time out from my schedule which was focused on launching my new product/service Power Market Analysis (PMA) to produce the paper presented in Fortnightly. The driver was pure intellectual curiosity and the desire for the truth – per my Alma Mata saying “The Truth Shall Set You Free” Hook’em.
I stand with Mr. Tribe in saying the current Clean Power Plan violates the principles of federalism that are basic to our constitutional order. This is not a debate on the cost or the benefits though there is much to discuss there. I believe the Clean Power Plan sets the stage for changing the political landscape towards a federalism world not supported by the original constitution. For not being a constitutional scholar as such as Mr Tribe, I was hesitant to directly discuss the constitution in my paper. I had to prove the issue through cost pains from various states, which would arise to the constitutional concerns. With such a scholar of the constitution now coming out on the legislation, I would have written my paper with more discussion on the constitutional concerns versus hinting at the issue.
My curiosity continues to get the best of me versus focusing my efforts to grow my family nest egg. I have not written much given I am spending so much time reading and analyzing the “Most expensive regulation ever” claimed by the National Association of Manufacturers. On November 25, 2014 EPA proposed strengthening the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The proposal is an astounding 626 pages! We need verbage control! The original Clean Air Act in 1970 is 36 pages long. There is a ton of repetition and just plain verbose in the proposal. I wonder if this is a strategy so people no longer read the entire bill. I am half way through as I stop to learn and verify the comments made. My recent curiosity drove me to look at actual improvements in ozone over the last decade. We have come a long way in reducing ozone levels. The New England area has seen 90 days of exceeding the standards in 1983 to under 10 days over the last few years. They should be presenting the efficacy of this effort, but they spend more time on laboratory experiments deducing ozone MAY/CAN/LIKELY be harmful. More to come….
From my family to yours, we wish you a Happy, Healthy, and Safe Holiday season. Please do consider All Energy Consulting for your energy consulting needs.
Your Ever Curious Energy Analyst,
David
David K. Bellman
All Energy Consulting LLC- “Independent analysis and opinions without a bias.”
614-356-0484
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blog: http://allenergyconsulting.com/blog/category/market-insights/
