U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Kristina Baum (EPW) - 202.224.6176
Donelle Harder (EPW) - 202.224.1282
Bicameral Leaders Call on E.P.A. to Include Small Business Input in Clean Power Project Rulemaking
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OKla.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today led a bicameral letter with 18 other members of Congress, which included 5 committee and subcommittee chairmen, to E.P.A. (EPA) Adm. Gina McCarthy calling on E.P.A. to include input from small business representatives as the agency develops a model federal Project under the suggested Clean Power Plan.
Those on the letter included Senator David Vitter (R-La.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship; Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.); Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.); Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.); Mike Crapo (R-Ida.); Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Representative Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Committee on Small Business; Representative Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of Committee on Energy and Business Subcommittee on Energy and Power; Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas); Representative Pete Olson (R-Texas), vice chairman of the Committee on Energy and Business Subcommittee on Energy and Power; Representative Bob Latta (R-Ohio); Representative David McKinley (R-Va.); Representative Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas); Representative H. Morgan Griffith (R-Pa.); Representative Bill Johnson (R-Ohio); Representative Billy Long (R-Mo.); Representative Bill Flores (R-Texas); and Representative Richard Hudson (R-N.C.).
"It is our understanding that E.P.A. informed participants involved in this process on April 30, 2015, that it was officially convening a SBAR panel. At the same time, however, it would appear that E.P.A. is very close to the time when the agency will be submitting the suggested federal Project to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review. It is not clear how E.P.A. can solicit, receive, and incorporate meaningful stakeholder input from small entities into the soon-to-be suggested federal Project if the agency intends to meet its summer 2015 deadline," the members said in the letter.
Under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA), E.P.A. is required to convene a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel before publishing a suggested rule that will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The purpose of a SBAR panel is to give Small Entity Representatives (SERs) an opportunity to assess a suggested rule's potential impacts and provide recommendations to the agency to minimize any significant economic impacts. E.P.A. did not convene a panel for its Clean Power Project proposal, but recently decided to formally convene a panel for its model federal plan, which is expected to be suggested later this summer. E.P.A. officially heard from small businesses yesterday during a public meeting, but according to a recent letter from the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, SERs would be ill-prepared given that the E.P.A. did not provide "sufficient materials to convene the panel" and "any panel conducted under these circumstances is unlikely to succeed at identifying reasonable regulatory alternatives for small businesses."
With E.P.A. operating under an expedited timeline to finalize its suggested carbon regulations, including the Clean Power Plan, and issue a model federal plan, congressional leaders are concerned the agency is simply "checking-the-box" when it comes to their SBREFA requirements and not engaging in a meaningful discussion with small businesses that stand to be heavily impacted by the President's economically harmful regulations.
For a full copy of the letter, click here.
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