Beshear and Repugs Dead Wrong on Coal Regulation

One of the factors behind Steve Beshear's 24-point lead over repug David Williams in the gubernatorial race is Beshear's shameless pandering to Big Coal by bashing EPA. Not that Williams is any slouch on EPA-bashing; it just makes a bigger impression coming from a Democratic official who knows better.

That wold be the same EPA that is the only reason Kentuckians aren't dying from poisoned air and water sources any faster than we are.

Now Kevin Drum brings us more proof that Beshear and Big Coal are motherfucking liars:

From the Congressional Research Service, in a report on the cost of new EPA regulations that will shut down some of the worst polluting coal plants in the country:

The costs of the rules may be large, but, in most cases, the benefits are larger.

The full report is here. Brad Plumer has the user-friendly summary here. Bottom line: The cost of the new EPA regs is almost certainly being hugely overestimated by the power industry (surprise!), and the benefits in public health will almost certainly be far greater than the price tag for replacing our most antiquated coal plants — which are mostly near the end of their life anyway — by more efficient combined cycle natural gas plants.

Liberals know that regulation works to make life less lethal and business more reliable.