EPA moves against SUVs

Time for a little Good Friday statism from Obama's EPA. The agency has put into place the nation's first greenhouse gas regulation on automobiles and the results could be devastating.

The new rules, finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department, require a fleet average of 35.5 miles a gallon by 2016 — up from an average 27.5 miles per gallon today.

Officials said the tougher tailpipe standards would save consumers money at the gas pump, reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil and lower emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-altering gases.

In Texas, by one estimate, the new rules will have the same effect on greenhouse gas emissions as removing 1.7 million of today's cars from the road.

The new rule will take effect into 2012, which gives automakers only two years to completely overhaul their lines of cars. Miles-per-gallon averages for automakers are largely dragged down by trucks and SUVs; a Ford Explorer gets only 13 mpg, for example. These also happen to be some of the most popular vehicles on the road today. According to AOL Autos, the bestselling car in the nation is the Ford F-150, a pickup that gets only 14 mpg. If automakers are forced to reduce the average mpg of their fleets of cars, they may have to simply produce fewer SUVs and trucks than are being demanded, which could lose them substantial business. This is a dangerous idea at a time when car sales are still languishing from the recession.

The EPA derives this power from a Supreme Court ruling giving them unilateral authority to enforce the Clean Air Act. This allows the EPA to get around Congress and even the president himself. But the Clean Air Act was designed to reduce smog, not greenhouse gases. Even Democrat Rep. John Dingell who authored the Clean Air Act has admitted, "This is not what was intended by Congress."

The EPA has already used its newfound authority to pass new nitrogen dioxide standards and force container ships trading with America to go green. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has indicated that more regulations are on the way.

Water, water everywhere -- except on the EPA's list

From Barack Obama's increasing discredited EPA:

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday [today] will finalize its determination that greenhouse gases pose a danger to human health and the environment, paving the way for regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories refineries and other major sources.

The move gives President Obama a significant tool to combat the gases blamed for the heating of the planet even while Congress remains stalled on economy-wide global warming legislation."

The EPA has unlimited authority to regulate greenhouse gases, thanks to the Supreme Court, and can now clamp down on the six greenhouse gases it identifies as dangerous. This gives EPA administrator Lisa Jackson incredible control over the United States economy. But missing from the list of is water vapor, the most abundant greenhouse gas by a country mile. Water vapor is twice as radiative a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide, and yet Obama's EPA is primarily obsessed with limiting CO2.

Far from regulating water vapor, Obama announced a plan to spend $1.2 billion in taxpayer money to invest in hydrogen cell cars. These vehicles supposedly don't pollute the atmosphere, but they do produce excess water -- the one greenhouse gas that the president's EPA has conveniently chosen to ignore.