Via Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, this Chicago Tribune article pretty much confirms what President Obama promised; that our electric bills would "necessarily skyrocket" as a result of new environmental regulations that will make coal-fired electric plants virtually a thing of the past. The increases are expected to begin to appear in 2014, and policymakers already are scrambling to find cheap and reliable alternative power sources. If they are unsuccessful, consumers can expect further increases as more expensive forms of generation take on a greater share of the electricity load. "Each generator will have to decide for itself whether the investment required to meet environmental requirements can be justified based on its projection of market prices and the cost of its capital. In any case, those costs will be passed through to consumers," said Mark Pruitt, director of the Illinois Power Agency, which procures electricity for Illinois. American Electric Power, one of the country's largest...(Read Full Post)