A Rare SCOTUS Semi-Win …. And A Sort Of A Repost

Wealth is health.  It will always be so.  The cost benefit analysis has already been assessed.  Wealth is health.  I’d go into great detail as to why this is true, but, I’ve no time nor tolerance at this time.  And, people have already been told. 

So, this happened …..

SCOTUS: EPA, You ‘Unreasonably’ Interpreted The Clean Air Act

This is fairly surprising coming from a bunch of big government lunatics.

In a five-to-four decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency “unreasonably” interpreted the Clean Air Act concerning its onerous and costly regulations it imposed on power plants. The government’s position was that cost evaluations were irrelevant, which the Court found to be “unpersuasive.” Justice Antonin Scalia authored the majority opinion.

As the EPA stepped way outside its bounds, it set back the agenda of the environmental left for now. The Court also noted that it would be up to the EPA to re-determine how “to account for cost” (SCOTUS):

Here, EPA found power-plant regulation “appropriate” because the plants’ emissions pose risks to public health and the environment and because controls capable of reducing these emissions were available. It found regulation “necessary” because the imposition of other Clean Air Act requirements did not eliminate those risks. The Agency refused to consider cost when making its decision. It estimated, however, that the cost of its regulations to power plants would be $9.6 billion a year, but the quantifiable benefits from the resulting reduction in hazardous-air-pollutant emissions would be $4 to $6 million a year. Petitioners (including 23 States) sought review of EPA’s rule in the D. C. Circuit, which upheld the Agency’s refusal to consider costs in its decision to regulate.

Held: EPA interpreted §7412(n)(1)(A) [the federal code outlining harmful air pollutants] unreasonably when it deemed cost irrelevant to the decision to regulate power plants. Pp. 5–15.

So, coal fired electricity and it’s effect on health ……

I did this graph last year ……

In another related post, I had this to say ….

Sometimes, I shouldn’t read HuffPo.  It causes me to lose faith in humanity.  They’re entirely ignorant, and irredeemably stupid.

Obama’s Clean Air Standards: An Economic Bonus? …..

Coal is still the cheapest source of electricity.  As much nat gas we can find, it will never be cheaper than coal.  This is because of the extraction costs.  We’ve places on this earth in which you can literally kick at the ground an bring up a lump of coal.  So much so, it just sits there because the quality of the coal isn’t the quality acceptable for use in coal fired electricity plants. 

As the above graph so plainly demonstrates, there’s never been a time in US in which coal use caused a decrease in the life expectancy in the US.  And, coal use, GDP, and life expectancy pretty much follows. 

Electrification has been, so far, the greatest boon to health the world has ever known.  This is what coal does ….. and much more!  It provides energy! 

Some lunatics believe we can all go live in mud huts and live happily ever after ….. But, look at the graph above.  But, that’s just since 1961.  

The fact of the matter is, Western civilization demonstrated people live longer with cheaper energy.  Last century, 50y/o were old people about ready to die.  Today, it’s the new “30”.