SIGforum
The Trump Presidency : Year II

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/8510094634

May 08, 2018, 05:05 PM
olfuzzy
The Trump Presidency : Year II
quote:

Looks like the ink in the kenyon's pen was erasable...


It truly is Big Grin


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans on repealing an Obama-era requirement effectively mandating all new coal-fired power plants be outfitted with unproven emissions technology, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

EPA will modify the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for power plants as part of its effort to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP) — the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s climate agenda. EPA will drop the de facto requirement that new coal plants install carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology Obama administration critics said would make it nearly impossible to build new coal plants.

“It’s fantastic that the Trump EPA is repealing the Obama EPA’s ban on new coal-fired power plants,” Junkscience.com publisher Steve Milloy told TheDCNF.

It’s not clear exactly how EPA will modify NSPS, but dropping the CCS mandate could mean raising carbon dioxide emissions limits for new power plants to a threshold that allows more highly efficient plants to be built.

In the past, coal plant operators have called for higher emissions limits to allow the building of supercritical and ultra supercritical units. Only one ultra supercritical coal plant, the Turk power plant, is operating in the U.S.

“While no new standard is really necessary since U.S. coal plants already burn coal cleanly and safely, kudos to the Trump EPA for requiring only the best existing and affordable technology,” said Milloy, who served on President Donald Trump’s EPA transition team.

The Obama administration finalized the NSPS in 2015, which set limits on how much carbon dioxide new power plants could emit. Emission rates for coal plants were set so low new plants would have to install CCS technology.

When the EPA finalized NSPS in 2015, the coal industry said it would effectively kill coal-fired power in the U.S. because it mandated unproven technology. EPA and environmentalists argued CCS was a viable technology. “Highly efficient supercritical pulverized coal unit with partial carbon capture and storage” was the best way to meet emissions limits, EPA found.

“This final standard of performance for newly constructed fossil fuel-fired steam generating units provides a clear and achievable path forward for the construction of such sources while addressing GHG emissions and supporting technological innovation,” EPA wrote in its 2015 regulation.

There were no operating U.S. power plants with CCS when the Obama administration promulgated its rule. To get around that fact, EPA relied heavily on a Canadian government-backed project CCS called Boundary Dam.

However, Boundary Dam only retrofitted a single coal-fired unit with CCS — not an entire power plant. The project has captured more than 2 million metric tons of CO2, but it’s come at a steep price of nearly $1.2 billion.

The Obama EPA also cited U.S. projects in development to argue CCS was “technically feasible to implement at fossil fuel-fired steam generating units.” But all of those projects were government-funded, which GOP lawmakers argued violated the Environmental Policy Act of 2005.

For example, Southern Company’s Kemper power plant in Mississippi was one project EPA highlighted in its 2015 rule, but the plant suffered from massive delays and cost overruns. Building Kemper ended up costing more than $7 billion.

On top of that, Kemper would not use its CCS equipment and instead burn natural gas, Southern CEO Thomas Fanning announced in 2017. Federal lawmakers are pushing legislation to further subsidize CCS to make the technology viable.

“Though the Obama EPA rule would technically have allowed coal plants that captured and stored about 50 percent of their CO2 emissions,” Milloy said, “that standard was known to be financially, physically and politically impossible to meet for any existing or imagined coal plant.”

“The Obama standard was de facto ban on new coal plants,” Milloy said.

http://dailycaller.com/2018/05...-on-new-coal-plants/
May 08, 2018, 05:13 PM
nhtagmember
^^^

full of win

I am so tired of winning I need a nap so I can win some more



[B] Against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC


May 08, 2018, 05:44 PM
olfuzzy
President Trump should have ended his speech with something along the lines of: Big Grin

"BTW, we won't be sending them any more pallets full of untraceable cash either"
May 08, 2018, 05:46 PM
erj_pilot
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Speaking of the pallets of cash...$1.5b...I heard that cash was actually Iran's money the U.S. was holding in trust from "frozen assets" from waaaaaaaay back in Carter's dealings with Iran, i.e., it wasn't taxpayer money. Can't remember from where I heard it, but the source was one of the guys I listen to on KTRH...Conservative Talk Radio.



"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
May 08, 2018, 05:48 PM
BamaJeepster
quote:
Originally posted by Brett B:
quote:
Originally posted by PASig:
Trump pulls us out of this shitty Iran deal just like he promised and this is how the fucking AP leads their announcement:

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday the U.S. will pull out of the landmark nuclear accord with Iran, dealing a profound blow to U.S. allies and potentially deepening the president’s isolation on the world stage.

Roll Eyes


CNN had the same shit.

Clearly the Dem talking point of "Isolation" has been handed out to all of the MSM lapdogs.


The same media fawned over Obama going it alone...





“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
- John Adams
May 08, 2018, 05:59 PM
sdy
https://abcnews.go.com/Politic...ts/story?id=55017468

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday said the Trump administration should comply with a new request from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes for classified documents from the Justice Department, the latest battle between the California Republican and the DOJ for information in his oversight investigation.

"We clearly expect the administration to honor our document requests," Ryan said at a news conference Tuesday.

Ryan, who said he hadn't spoken to Nunes directly about the matter, declined to say whether he supports Nunes' threat to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with the request and a subpoena for the classified materials.

the Justice Department said in a letter that it would not provide documents in response to his request "regarding a specific individual."

"Disclosure of responsive information to such requests can risk severe consequences, including potential loss of human lives, damage to relationships with valued international partners, compromise of ongoing criminal investigations, and interference with intelligence activities," assistant attorney general Stephen Boyd said in a letter to Nunes.

************

let's break that down some

"Disclosure of responsive information to such requests can risk severe consequences, including potential loss of human lives, damage to relationships with valued international partners, compromise of ongoing criminal investigations, and interference with intelligence activities,"

what a BS statement. "such requests" We aren't talking about "such requests". We are talking about a very specific request.

"can risk" severe consequences

yes, "such requests" can do that, but does this one ?

"potential loss of human lives" does the Nunes request do that ?

and so on. Don't give us a bunch of smoke about some requests might trigger risk. Tell us explicitly what risk the Nunes request triggers. Every time we have seen a redaction lifted, there has been no national security issue or risk associated w that previous redaction. Just more FBI/DoJ lies and highly suspicious behavior.

What level of risk do you assign to a rogue FBI/DoJ conspiracy to impeach the president based on lies and fabrications ?
May 08, 2018, 06:10 PM
JALLEN
quote:
Originally posted by sdy:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politic...ts/story?id=55017468

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday said the Trump administration should comply with a new request from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes for classified documents from the Justice Department, the latest battle between the California Republican and the DOJ for information in his oversight investigation.

"We clearly expect the administration to honor our document requests," Ryan said at a news conference Tuesday.

Ryan, who said he hadn't spoken to Nunes directly about the matter, declined to say whether he supports Nunes' threat to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with the request and a subpoena for the classified materials.

the Justice Department said in a letter that it would not provide documents in response to his request "regarding a specific individual."

"Disclosure of responsive information to such requests can risk severe consequences, including potential loss of human lives, damage to relationships with valued international partners, compromise of ongoing criminal investigations, and interference with intelligence activities," assistant attorney general Stephen Boyd said in a letter to Nunes.

************

let's break that down some

"Disclosure of responsive information to such requests can risk severe consequences, including potential loss of human lives, damage to relationships with valued international partners, compromise of ongoing criminal investigations, and interference with intelligence activities,"

what a BS statement. "such requests" We aren't talking about "such requests". We are talking about a very specific request.

"can risk" severe consequences

yes, "such requests" can do that, but does this one ?

"potential loss of human lives" does the Nunes request do that ?

and so on. Don't give us a bunch of smoke about some requests might trigger risk. Tell us explicitly what risk the Nunes request triggers. Every time we have seen a redaction lifted, there has been no national security issue or risk associated w that previous redaction. Just more FBI/DoJ lies and highly suspicious behavior.

What level of risk do you assign to a rogue FBI/DoJ conspiracy to impeach the president based on lies and fabrications ?


You don’t know if you don’t know.

Is the document Nunes is demanding, unredacted, the scope memo of August 2, 2017 Rosenstein drafted to Mueller that Special Counsel is being required to provide to the judge in US v. Manafort in Eastern District of Virginia?




Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown
May 08, 2018, 06:33 PM
gw3971
quote:
Originally posted by erj_pilot:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Speaking of the pallets of cash...$1.5b...I heard that cash was actually Iran's money the U.S. was holding in trust from "frozen assets" from waaaaaaaay back in Carter's dealings with Iran, i.e., it wasn't taxpayer money. Can't remember from where I heard it, but the source was one of the guys I listen to on KTRH...Conservative Talk Radio.


It was. It was from an arms deal we cancelled after the Shah was deposed and the hostages were taken IIRC. We held on to it since then and they were trying to collect it through the courts. Obama and Jarrett couldn't wait to give it back. Got to feed all of those young terrorists in the camps.
May 08, 2018, 09:09 PM
jprebb
There are several C-130s sitting on Dobbins AFB that were sold to the Shah's military but never delivered. Lockheed can't get rid of them so there they sit.

JP
May 08, 2018, 09:42 PM
sigmonkey
Fuck Iran.

They owe us far more than the $8 billion that was locked up in 79, and more than anything in any other assets they never received.

The cost and loss to those 52 held for 444 days, and the 8 killed, and 5 badly injured, and other people's lives who were forever changed, and the whispered and private discussion as "shameful" as Vietnam was for those who walked tall before.

Most cannot understand, nor fathom it.

Iran will pay one day, and I hope to live to see it.




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
May 08, 2018, 09:45 PM
Shifferbrains
Looks like Secretary of State Pompeo will be bringing the three hostages back from North Korea.
May 08, 2018, 09:54 PM
Strambo
quote:
Originally posted by Shifferbrains:
Looks like Secretary of State Pompeo will be bringing the three hostages back from North Korea.


Well, that's dumb. You're supposed to give away the farm and get next to nothing in return. Didn't they learn anything from the last administration? Roll Eyes

I'm really happy for their families, the winning is nice even if they won't get credit. We haven't even sat down with them yet...it's amazing what a little spine will bring to negotiations.




“People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.” –Chuck Palahnuik

Be harder to kill: https://preparefit.ck.page
May 08, 2018, 10:47 PM
pbslinger
The speech announcing dropping the Unconstitutional agreement was awesome. Not tired of winning yet. That's one brave statesman!
May 08, 2018, 11:34 PM
bigdeal



-----------------------------
Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter
May 09, 2018, 07:25 AM
parabellum
These people are not sane:

Pelosi says Dems will work to roll back Trump tax cuts if they retake Congress

Truly insane and truly stupid. My God. They are so out of touch with the American people, it's unreal.
May 09, 2018, 08:23 AM
joel9507
quote:
Originally posted by Strambo:
quote:
Originally posted by Shifferbrains:
Looks like Secretary of State Pompeo will be bringing the three hostages back from North Korea.


Well, that's dumb. You're supposed to give away the farm and get next to nothing in return. Didn't they learn anything from the last administration? Roll Eyes

I'm really happy for their families, the winning is nice even if they won't get credit. We haven't even sat down with them yet...it's amazing what a little spine will bring to negotiations.

Great for the folks involved, glad they got out before they got Warmbiered.

This is also signalling that Kim's looking to build some goodwill with the US. Very positive sign for the negotiations.
May 09, 2018, 08:30 AM
sdy
This is from the Wash Post so we need to factor in their severe anti-Trump bias.

But they say the DoJ refusal to share some specific info w Devin Nunes is to protect a Top Secret intelligence source.

https://www.washingtonpost.com...m_term=.0d542cec12b8

Last Wednesday, senior FBI and national intelligence officials relayed an urgent message to the White House: Information being sought by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes could endanger a top-secret intelligence source.

Top White House officials, with the assent of President Trump, agreed to back the decision to withhold the information. They were persuaded that turning over Justice Department documents could risk lives by potentially exposing the source, a U.S. citizen who has provided intelligence to the CIA and FBI , according to multiple people familiar with the discussion and the person’s role.

The showdown marked a rare moment of alignment between the Justice Department and Trump, who has relentlessly criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other top Justice officials for the probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

But it is unclear whether Trump was alerted to a key fact — that information developed by the intelligence source had been provided to the Mueller investigation.

After the White House sided with the department’s decision to refuse the request, Nunes (R-Calif.) publicly vented his frustration, saying Sunday that he may try to hold Sessions in contempt for refusing to comply. He said that his classified-document request and subsequent subpoena to the Justice Department did not refer to an individual.

“They are citing spurious national security concerns to evade congressional oversight while leaking information to The Washington Post ostensibly about classified meetings,” he said in a statement to The Post. “Congress has a right and a duty to get this information and we will succeed in getting this information, regardless of whatever fantastic stories the DOJ and FBI spin to the Post.

It’s not clear what documents Nunes requested in his classified April 24 letter to the Justice Department. He told reporters this week that he is investigating the FBI’s abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “and other matters.”

“If we were to just open our doors to allow Congress to come and rummage through the files, that would be a serious infringement on the separation of powers, and it might resolve a dispute today, but it would have negative repercussions in the long run, and we have a responsibility to defend the institution,” Rosenstein said.


***************

Given his year long track record of being right, I support Devin Nunes on this.

One way to address this is to brief Nunes at the TS level and explain the sensitivity. Nunes can then comment whether their argument makes any sense.

DoJ, FBI, and intel agencies have put themselves in a position of having low credibility. Time after time their redactions have proved to be phony and baseless from a national security viewpoint.

Rosenstein's last comment above is telling. We have a rogue special counsel trying to impeach the president, but Rosenstein doesn't want congress rummaging around in their files.
May 09, 2018, 08:31 AM
parabellum
This morning, the Krimson Kenyan is sitting around with all the ass-kissers who tell him he's the greatest POTUS ever, rationalizing these advances made by President Trump. If there are meaningful results coming from the summit, Obama and his minions will find a way to convince themselves that President Trump deserves no credit for it.

But, late at night, when it's just Barry and his thoughts, he knows the truth. Hey, here's an idea for you, you incompetent radical- why don't you go on the talk show circuit and tell all the empty-headed Millenials about how you deserve the credit for getting NK to behave?
May 09, 2018, 08:44 AM
justjoe
NORK prisoners freed! Big Grin

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/0...eased-prisoners.html

The never-Trumpers, the Democrat "resistance," and the RINOs who refuse support, look more and more ridiculous every day.

MAGA


______________________________________________________

"You get much farther with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone."
May 09, 2018, 08:54 AM
c1steve
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
These people are not sane:

Pelosi says Dems will work to roll back Trump tax cuts if they retake Congress

Truly insane and truly stupid. My God. They are so out of touch with the American people, it's unreal.


I hope Pelosi and her group keep this up, and keep it going for another 10 years. Nothing like shooting themselves in the foot, and having no one to blame.


-c1steve