EPA Regulation, The Coal Industry, and Obama's Unconstitutional Government

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The United States Congress has failed to put into place "Cap and Trade," which would impose government controlled carbon emission standards, but allow larger producers to buy the allowance to produce more than acceptable based on government rules.  Nonetheless, despite the fact that they do not have the authority to legislate, the executive branch's Environmental Protection Agency instituted Cap and Trade, anyway.  It did not matter to the regulatory agency that the representative portion of government disapproved the power grab by the federal government.  The EPA decided the measure was too important for the representatives of the people to be trusted with, and took it upon their own to institute the program.

The political left, mostly in the Democrat Party, has decided that coal is no longer a suitable energy source because of its "dirty" emissions, and therefore has declared war on the industry.  Instead, the liberal left wants "green energy" to be the energy of choice, so they are forcing it upon the public with massive subsidies, as they go after who they do not want to be in the energy game with  massive regulations.

Today, we call this kind of "picking the winners and losers" game "Crony Capitalism."  The founders called it "mercantilism."  This practice of manipulating the market based on the whims of the government power-brokers is not only dangerous, and places the free market at a disadvantage (hence, slowing down prosperity, opportunity, and innovation), but it is unconstitutional.  Not only does the federal government not have any authority on this issue (if there is to be regulations regarding environmental issues, it is authorized at the State level), but the EPA did it without the blessing of the legislative branch, and in fact did it in opposition of a decision by the part of government that is represented by the people.

EPA set to strike key blow against coal? - Fox News

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

This post is a part of a larger article titled: Killing Representative Governance