Just in the nick of time.  A federal judge today blocked the Obama administration’s water pollution rule mere hours before it was set to begin implementation.  Under the new EPA/Obama regulations puddles, ditches and all rain accumulation geographies come under the jurisdiction of the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Any area subject to rain water transit would have to meet strict EPA rules and compliance standards.  Yes, that means your driveway, puddles upon your property, the ditch in front of your house, or the transverse area around your guttered downspouts would be subject to the inspection and authority of the EPA.

WASHINGTON DC – A federal judge in North Dakota acted late Thursday to block the Obama administration’s controversial water pollution rule, hours before it was due to take effect.
Judge Ralph Erickson of the District Court for the District of North Dakota found that the 13 states suing to block the rule met the conditions necessary for a preliminary injunction, including that they would likely be harmed if courts didn’t act and that they are likely to succeed when their underlying lawsuit against the rule is decided.
The decision is a major roadblock for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers, who were planning Friday to begin enforcing the Waters of the United States rule, expanding federal jurisdiction over small waterways like streams and wetlands. (more…)

In 2012 it was revealed that Obama administration officials used pseudonym email accounts to hide their communications.  EPA head Lisa Jackson became embroiled in a scandal when it was discovered that she subverted FOIA concerns by using an account under the name “Richard Windsor”, a name attributed to her dog.
Later, as the EPA scandal evolved, Lisa Jackson quit her position. 

Now, it appears that IRS official Lois Lerner was doing the exact same thing.  Using the email name “Toby Miles” to hide her in house, and ex parte, communication.  The IRS plot thickens.
WASHINGTON DC – The IRS admitted to a federal court there was a second personal email account that Lois Lerner, the official at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal, used to conduct agency business.
The email account apparently was set up under the name, “Toby Miles,” which sources tell Fox News is the name of Lerner’s dog.   (more…)

This is interesting.  Last week, a small EPA-supervised work crew inspecting the Gold King mine in Colorado “accidentally” knocked a hole in a waste pit, releasing at least three million gallons of acidic water containing toxic heavy metals.

Gateway Pundit shares a letter to the editor written a week earlier, and published in a local town newspaper, written by a retired geologist, who predicted a week earlier that the EPA would create the crisis in order to secure Superfund status for a cleanup. (more…)

The professional political class are going their best pearl-clutching routine, because Donald Trump dare say he’s bought influence, through political contributions, on behalf of his business interests.
How dare he say he’s given money to “get things”, while simultaneously saying “that’s what’s wrong with Washington DC”.  “He’s part of the problem“, says Rand Paul.
The republicans, or, heck, anyone, who espouses ‘holier-than-thou’ outrage over this are, to borrow descriptive from Trump, absolute idiots and morons.
This is 2015, an era with Obama-level governmental fascism leading to issues like the IRS targeting of conservatives; just ask Catherine Englebrecht about it.  Or better yet, watch and listen to this video – spoken on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives:

Here comes the beginning of the second holy grail goal of the Obama administration. This one comes with guarantees of billions for Chicago Jesus and his ideological co-horts. Get ready for “Carbon Trading” in the U.S. energy sector along a similar vein to the historical “Mortgage Trading” in the housing sector.

Listen closely tomorrow and you’ll hear some familiar catch phrases. Remember “if you like your plan you can keep your plan”, or “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor”, or “it will save the average family $2,500 per year on health insurance premiums”, or “we have to pass the bill (regulation) to find out what’s in it” etc… the nouns will change, the verbs and adjectives will remain the same.

WASHINGTON DC – President Barack Obama will Monday unveil what he called the “biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken” to fight climate change, a sensitive issue central to his legacy.

The White House will release the final version of America’s Clean Power Plan, a set of environmental rules and regulations that will home in on the pollution from the nation’s power plants, setting limits on power-plant carbon emissions.

Laying out how climate change was a threat to the health, well being and security of millions of Americans, and adding that time was of the essence, Obama said in a video released early Sunday: “Climate change is not a problem for another generation. Not anymore.” (more…)

In a 5-4 ruling, the justices ruled that the EPA should have taken into account the financial costs to utility companies, states and affected citizens before deciding whether to set limits for the toxic air pollutants it regulated in 2011.  SCOTUS forcing the EPA to consider the wholesale costs to the people benefiting from the power generation.

This case arises from the EPA’s efforts to regulate pollution – and in particular mercury – from power plants. The question before the Court was whether, when determining whether to regulate the emissions from power plants, the EPA should take into account the cost to the plants of complying.

States and industry groups had argued that the EPA must do so, while the EPA argued that it does not have to consider costs until later in the process, when it issues specific pollution standards. Today the Court agreed with the states and industry groups, holding that the EPA’s refusal to consider costs when deciding whether to regulate was unreasonable.

The opinion remands the case to the D.C. Circuit for further proceedings. But from the opinion (embedded below) it seems likely that the agency will have to scrap their plans, try again and finding some mechanism to consider costs, before it can act on this issue.

(more…)

Recent Polls reflected more than 70% of Americans support the construction of the U.S. Keystone Pipeline and only 26% oppose it.

However, just like ObamaCare, President Stompy Feet stays ideologically committed to the minority position and has just vetoed the Keystone bill.

President Obama on Tuesday vetoed legislation authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, rebuffing the new Republican Congress amid a furious battle over Homeland Security funding.

The veto — just the third of Obama’s presidency — was made in private and without fanfare, reflecting the tensions in the Democratic Party over whether the pipeline should be approved. (link)

The President issued the following statement on his veto: (more…)

This is so typically Clintonian. Hillary is asked about whether or not she supports the Keystone Pipeline.
She’s frozen in political fear. If she supports it, she’s undermining the far left and fueling the Elizabeth Warren support crowd; if she doesn’t support it, she’s against 70% of the U.S. electorate’s position. So, she takes the position of “no position”.

From the same department who gave us the mysterious “Richard Windsor”, a ficticious name and email account -belonging to EPA Head Gina McCarthy’s predecessor Lisa Jackson- used to hide communication….

The smidgen stink is profound with this one. 

(Via Washington Times) The EPA is poised to “do an IRS” — similar to what the tax agency had to do with dismissed top official Lois G. Lerner — and officially notify the National Archives that it may have lost key electronic records, according to a think tank that’s suing to get text messages under an open-records request.
Justice Department lawyers told a federal court on Tuesday that the alert will be coming soon, in a case that’s shaping up as a significant battle over whether government agencies are required to keep cellphone text messages as “official” records.
In this case, researcher Chris Horner and the Competitive Enterprise Institute are trying to get a peek at Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy’s text messages, believing that she switched from emails to texting in order to talk about the agency’s controversial plans to crack down on coal power plants. (more…)