According to Jason Grumet an adviser to Obama on energy/environmental issues he is going to immediately classify carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant. To many of you, this will be a good thing - at least until you start realizing the costs.
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Barack Obama will classify carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant that can be regulated should he win the presidential election on Nov. 4, opening the way for new rules on greenhouse gas emissions.
The Democratic senator from Illinois will tell the Environmental Protection Agency that it may use the 1990 Clean Air Act to set emissions limits on power plants and manufacturers, his energy adviser, Jason Grumet, said in an interview. President George W. Bush declined to curb CO2 emissions under the law even after the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the government may do so.
If elected, Obama would be the first president to group emissions blamed for global warming into a category of pollutants that includes lead and carbon monoxide. Obama's rival in the presidential race, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, has not said how he would treat CO2 under the act.
Obama ``would initiate those rulemakings,'' Grumet said in an Oct. 6 interview in Boston. ``He's not going to insert political judgments to interrupt the recommendations of the scientific efforts.''
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Bloomberg.com: News
Here is the kicker. (from the same article)
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Placing heat-trapping pollutants in the same category as ozone may lead to caps on power-plant emissions and force utilities to use the most expensive systems to curb pollution. The move may halt construction plans on as many as half of the 130 proposed new U.S. coal plants.
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Burning coal to generate electricity produces more than a third of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and half the U.S. power supply, according to the Energy Department.
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Given the uncertainties of man being the cause of global warming and not knowing the impact reducing CO2 will have, I am not interested in experimenting with what may turnout to be very costly. In addition given Obama's position on nuclear power, I am not sure how he plans on addressing our energy needs. Does anyone?
P.S. - Not interested in your opinions of me, my sources, my views on global warming, Bush's views on global warming, ignoring or cherry picking "science", Palin's IQ or bra size - just want to know if Obama has thought this through or not. I don't think he has.