Rand Paul: Obama Carbon Rules Could Cause Electricity Shortage

Sen. Rand Paul says new environmental rules proposed by President Barack Obama on Monday would not only kill jobs and raise electric rates, they may cause an electricity shortage.

The proposed rules call for a 30 percent cut over the next 15 years in greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. Those rules apply to coal-fired plants.

Members of both parties have criticized the rules, as have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the United Mine Workers Unions. Both business groups and unions say the rules will cost jobs.

Democrats attempted to pass a cap-and-trade law in 2009, but failed. Monday's announcement was the latest in Obama's effort to pass regulations though executive order.

But Obama doesn't want a "balanced approach" as he often touts, Paul said Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto," because he's clearly not balancing the job losses in Kentucky or other coal-producing states.

Paul, a Kentucky Republican believed to have presidential aspirations in 2016, said the move shows that environmental extremists are guiding the administration's policies. Paul also pointed to Obama's long delay on making a decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which is opposed by environmentalists, but favored by both business and unions.

"We have been burning coal cleaner every decade for the last 100 years," Paul said, adding that EPA's own statistics show emissions from smokestacks have been going down for 40 years.

Some of that reduction is attributable to federal regulations, Paul admitted, but, he said, "now we've gotten to a point where we have zealots in charge, and the zealots are not balancing things."

Paul said he worries that, eventually, the country will not have enough electricity to meet its needs.

"People need to realize who live in New York City that if it comes a hot August day and you have no air conditioning you know who you can blame: the president," he said. "If it comes a really cold in January and there's not enough heat, you know who you can blame."

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