Hypocrisy is “the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behavior.”

There doesn’t seem a more clear example of exactly this when one hears Pres. Obama’s words about “job creation” and then reads that under his administration, the EPA, in this case, will actually destroy 1.44 million jobs. So, is “job creation” just another word for “job destruction?”

Besides destroying jobs, these proposed EPA regulations will also increase the costs of electricity as much as 23 percent in some areas, average of 11.5 percent nationwide and would have a substantial impact on raising prices of natural gas as well.

This statistic is from the federal government’s own data which was discovered when an analysis was completed for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity and is the result of primarily two new regulations being proposed by the EPA. One is the “Maximum Achievable Control Technology” and the other is the “Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.”

And, the EPA’s air pollution rules may even extend to your own backyard as you “disturb” your own soil to plant a garden which may result in soil particles becoming air borne and “contaminating” something, someplace else. So, in addition, to potentially losing your job, paying a lot more for electricity and heat, you may have the additional burden of paying high fines to the EPA for air, water, dirt, plant and finally people pollution.

Senator Maria Cantwell supports these measures as does Senator Patty Murray, but Cantwell has gone a step further by calling for the EPA to preemptively prohibit resource development in a huge area of Alaska — an area rich with copper, gold and other valuable metals. She wants the EPA to deny the permit before it has even been applied for. If this occurs, the precedent could potentially lock up lands throughout the U.S.

So, while “job creation” is the buzz word for the moment, the truth is that this administration and our own elected officials actually prefer job destruction as evidenced by their actions.

Catherine Paxton

Arlington