Alabama Republicans block EPA regs as Obama returns from climate summit in Paris
WASHINGTON — The same day President Barack Obama returned to the United States from a climate change conference in Paris, Republican members of Alabama's congressional delegation unanimously voted to block proposed regulations that are at the heart of the President's environmental agenda.
The House adopted two resolutions previously passed by the Senate that block Environmental Protection Agency rules limiting carbon emissions from both new and existing power plants. Such rules have already had a direct impact in Alabama, where coal-fired plants have been retired due to the costs of upgrading them to comply with more stringent Federal mandates.
The White House has already vowed to veto the resolutions, but Republicans are hoping to send a message to the international community that American leadership is not likely to fulfill whatever promises President Obama makes in Paris. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Energy and Power Subcommittee, summed up that sentiment by saying "We want the world to know that there is disagreement with the President on this issue."
The economic impact of the regulations would be so significant that Congress was able to use a special procedure in their efforts to block them. The Congressional Review Act creates an expedited procedure by which Congress can vote to disapprove of regulations that have an economic impact of more than $100 million. The EPA's New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and Clean Power Plan (CPP) regulations far exceed that number. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates the rules could result in a loss of approximately 224,000 jobs per year nationwide and increase electricity rates for American homes and businesses by $289 billion per year. Electricity rates in Alabama could rise by as much as 20 percent, according to one study.
Alabama Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL6), who has been a relentless critic of the EPA, said Tuesday that Congress must use its authority to roll back the agency's ever-expanding reach.
"The EPA's regulations on power plants are well beyond the authority Congress delegated to the agency," Palmer said, "If the President vetoes these resolutions and these regulations are allowed to stay in place, they will significantly increase energy costs for millions of American households and will be particularly hard on low-income families and senior citizens.
"In addition to these resolutions of disapproval, Congress should affirmatively remove the EPA's ability to regulate so-called greenhouse gasses, authority Congress never granted to the agency in the first place," he continued. "That is why I have introduced H.R. 3880, The Stopping EPA Overreach Act of 2015, which would permanently remove the ability of the EPA to pass these kinds of regulations."
Republicans, many of whom have been longtime critics of the U.N., are also threatening to block $500 million the President pledged to contribute to the U.N.'s so called Green Climate Fund. Obama shot back this week, saying the United States would "absolutely meet our commitments." He also told world leaders he was confident his successor would be a Democrat and continue to address the issue of climate change as a top priority.