“The proposed Waxman-Markey legislation was [already] rejected because it would have driven up energy prices and destroyed domestic jobs.”
Below is the media release and link to the letter.
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February 1, 2012
Committee Leaders Ask OMB to Withdraw EPA’s Pending Greenhouse Gas Rule
WASHINGTON, DC –Committee leaders today expressed concern that President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to impose a back door energy tax though its proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, despite the rejection of cap-and-trade legislation by both Congress and the American people. EPA’s proposed rule is currently undergoing White House review and is expected to be unveiled soon, threatening to impose additional energy costs on a struggling American economy. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Chairman Emeritus Joe Barton (R-TX), and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-KY) today wrote to Jeffrey Zeints, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to request that the proposed regulation be withdrawn, citing concerns over the harmful consequences for jobs and the economy.
The committee leaders wrote:
“In this rulemaking, EPA may be seeking to do precisely what Congress and the American public rejected in the last Congress. The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade legislation from the 111th Congress would have significantly raised the cost of energy and driven jobs overseas. With respect to electricity, it would have effectively required that U.S. coal-fired power plants use carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies that have been neither demonstrated nor deployed on a commercial scale. Further increasing electricity costs by requiring commercially unproven technologies, or forcing a transition away from coal will send thousands more U.S. jobs overseas at a time when the nation can least afford it.
“We are concerned that EPA may intend to propose GHG standards for new and modified coal-fired power plants that could only be achieved through the use of costly technologies such as CCS. Such standards would be a back door cap-and-tax regime, circumventing the will of Congress and the American people. Affordable, reliable electricity is critical to keeping and growing jobs in the United States and the proposed Waxman-Markey legislation was rejected because it would have driven up energy prices and destroyed domestic jobs.
To view the full letter, click here.
Consumer spending is down and gasoline prices are up, higher electricity prices. Not good for Obama’s reelection.
Sorry, AGW.
Congress writes the legislation and the agency writes the rules and regulations that promulgate the legislation. So why can’t Congress write legislation abolishing certain rules? Lack of spine or don’t want to exercise their authority on behalf of the people they work for?
AWG is a computer model fantasy, and the EPA is a runaway train. Cheap reliable energy is vital to America’s economy. I would entertain the closing of a coal fired power generation facility for the building of two thorium reactor power generation facilities. I have no problem killing any tax incentives for moving jobs overseas, I would be supportive of tax incentives to create jobs here in non government subsidized ventures.
GreggM
Please specify exactly what law you are referring to. Great spelling, by the way.
You don’t think that removing the tax incentives put into law by Republicans that given incentives to move their businesses over seas might help?