We might be just a little more excited about President Barack Obama’s jobs proposals if environmental regulations from another arm of his administration weren’t making the unemployment crisis a lot worse. The evidence: the looming shutdown of Luminant’s lignite coal mine that provides fuel to the Big Brown power plant in Freestone County. This action, forced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s expedited cross-state air pollution rule, will probably cut hundreds of jobs across Texas. If so, it will hit hard in our area.

It’s tough to figure how the Obama administration can work so doggedly toward such dramatically conflicting goals. Yet, amid the discouraging news from Freestone County, we now consider the president’s new jobs plan:

* Payroll tax cuts: The president’s plan would not only extend payroll tax cuts but trim them to 3.1 percent for both employees and employers. Yes, savings might fire up consumers, which could in turn spur job growth. But at a time when concern grows over the long-range solvency of Social Security funded through payroll taxes, how smart is it to cut $250 billion more in the revenue that funds this popular entitlement?

* Tax credits for new job hires: The president proposes $8 billion in tax credits to companies that hire workers who have been unemployed for six months or longer. A business would get a tax credit of $4,000 for an employee, more if it’s a veteran. This might invigorate hiring at some companies, but only if business is already strong enough to prompt one to seriously consider adding staff. A tax credit might sweeten the deal but isn’t enough alone to prompt businesses to hire more people.

* Immediate funding for infrastructure: The idea of more funding for highways and bridges ranks high among conservatives and liberals, but many Americans are wary after similar promises in the $825 billion stimulus package of 2009. But if shovel-ready transportation projects are funded, we’d be all for this. We’re less enthusiastic about an infrastructure bank to loan money to lure private-sector investors into major infrastructure projects. Do Americans really need yet another government agency?

* Subsidized job training: Modeled after a program in Georgia, this would pay the unemployed to work temporarily to refine skills or learn new ones while searching for a permanent job. This program has potential, allowing employers to try out job prospects without risking money on them.

So, yes, there are viable parts of the Obama jobs agenda. Republicans can support some of it, including long-stalled free-trade pacts. But so much in job creation must ultimately involve the administration showing more regard for its many actions, such as those now impacting jobs in Freestone County.

We don’t deny that this nation faces environmental problems. But to deliver crippling body blows to industry and commerce when the economy is on the ropes and many people are out of work suggests an administration working overtime at cross-purposes.