U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, set the record straight on the Obama Administration's climate change regulations. During an E.P.W. Oversight Hearing on the Environment Protection Agency's (EPA) Suggested Carbon Dioxide Emissions Rules, EPA's Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, Janet McCabe failed to present a convincing case on why the Administration should proceed with its Suggested climate regulations that have received five million comments, are opposed by a majority of the states, and fail to take substantive action on the president's global warming goals.
Senator Inhofe helped point out the facts about the toll these expensive regulations would take on our country's economy:
Bloomberg BNA: "Setting carbon dioxide emissions limits on power plants would only drive more manufacturing jobs to China while imposing significant costs on the U.S. economy," Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said. (http://bit.ly/1E5chFK)
Washington Examiner: Conservatives, coal-state lawmakers and industry groups want to scrap the rule because they say it will raise electricity rates - committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., called the suggestion "the most regressive tax increase you can have," while Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker called it "EPA's most blatant overreach." (http://washex.am/1E5cI2W)
Wall Street Journal, Slate, Daily Caller: Reducing carbon dioxide on its own would have no direct impact on public health since it's not an actual pollutant. Breathing in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere doesn't cause illness or death. In fact, humans breathe out about 2.3 pounds of carbon dioxide per day. Carbon dioxide is also a necessary component of life on Earth - there would be no plant life without it. (http://bit.ly/1uKDk9j)
Public Power: "Thirty-one states now oppose your Clean Power Project," the Oklahoma Republican told Janet McCabe, the EPA's acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, who was the lone witness at the hearing. "I am concerned that your agency intends to impose the most expensive regulation in history yet fail to achieve your goals," Inhofe said. An analysis by NERA, an economic consulting and analysis firm, says the E.P.A. Project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants will cost "as much as $73 billion per year and upwards of $469 billion over the next 15 years," he said. (http://bit.ly/1uKQMtX)
Below are the top tweets from the hearing:
I'm appalled by the @EPA's refusal to hold a public hearing in West Virginia because it wasn't deemed 'comfortable' enough. http://t.co/AqvnRms4oP
- Shelley Moore Capito (@SenCapito) February 11, 2015
.@jiminhofe: China would love for US to make more unnecessary CO2 reductions so that they can inherit the manufacturing jobs @EPA runs out
- E.P.W. Majority (@EPWRepublicans) February 11, 2015
At E.P.W. hearing on CO2 rule I told E.P.A. that when a majority of states object to a rule, you're doing something wrong. https://t.co/vXiHevPEXr
- Senator John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) February 11, 2015
States reject @EPA's CO2 rules for good reason - they ignore the will of Congress, cost billions, and do nothing to impact global warming
- E.P.W. Majority (@EPWRepublicans) February 11, 2015
Senator Inhofe projects to hold a state-focused hearing in the coming weeks to hear directly from state regulators about the concerns they have with EPA's Suggested CO2 emissions rules.
