#Romney’s climate remarks show a deep understanding of legislation #gop #tcot

This article was frustrating because it never acknowledged that Romney corrected Politico’s quote because it didn’t reflect his exact position regarding the EPA’s application of the law.

The EPA is calling coal a “pollutant,” which Romney disputes while acknowledging global warming. No inconsistency there, just an understanding of the law under which the EPA is regulating coal.

According to the law, a pollutant is considered unhealthy. Carbon Dioxide is not unhealthy. That is Romney’s stance.

Amplify’d from www.theatlanticwire.com

The offending quote: “I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants, of greenhouse gases, that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you’re seeing.”

Romney’s campaign said that rather than “of,” the candidate had said “and.”

So the full quote reads like this: “I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you’re seeing.”

His quote about carbon doesn’t exactly reverse this position: he was very specific in saying carbon is not a direct threat to people’s bodies in the sense that breathing it won’t kill you. But scientists have clearly identified it as a massive indirect threat in that it causes climate change, which threatens millions of people around the globe with effects ranging from drought to rising seas.

Keeping that in mind, it’s unclear what the campaign’s “of” and “and” distinction accomplishes–aside from calling attention to Romney’s primary-hampering global warming stance. Read more at www.theatlanticwire.com

 

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#Romney says #EPA has over-stepped bounds of Clean Air Act. #gop #Obama #tcot

I like this clip because it shows that Romney clearly understand the legislation and it even informs me about it. He isn’t wholly against the EPA, but against carbon dioxide being considered harmful to our health–I like the critical reasoning.

Romney isn’t just a hard-stance-with-nothing-to-back-it-up kind of guy.

I think that sometimes his critical reasoning is mistaken for flip-floppery. He speaks in exact terms that can sometimes be easily confused.

Yeah, I admit that I like Romney. Yes, I also think that coal is completely necessary to our economy. I am biased.

Also, I feel strongly that there is excessive regulation that no one is even aware of. That’s something I learned on the hill–many of the rules governing our lives are not voted on…they are regulations that no one hears about.

Amplify’d from www.politico.com

“I think we may have made a mistake,” Romney said Thursday in response to a voter’s question about EPA regulating air pollution from coal plants under the Clean Air Act. “We have made a mistake is what I believe, in saying that the EPA should regulate carbon emissions. I don’t think that was the intent of the original legislation, and I don’t think carbon is a pollutant in the sense of harming our bodies.”

Following up on a 2007 ruling by the Supreme Court, the Obama administration early in its term issued an endangerment finding that declared carbon dioxide emissions a threat to public health and welfare. Under the Clean Air Act, that decision paves the way for climate-themed rules on power plants, petroleum refiners and other major industrial sources.

“My view is that the EPA in getting into carbon and regulating carbon has gone beyond the original intent of that legislation, and I would not take it there,” Romney said Thursday. “But I do believe in making sure that we reduce the pollutants that harm our health.” Read more at www.politico.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a18jy9