The Obama administration’s climate rules keep getting worse, a House energy subcommittee chairman said Wednesday.
“The final rule may be even more problematic than the proposed version, especially now that [the Environmental Protection Agency] has chosen to discourage new natural gas facilities as well as coal in favor of less reliable renewables like wind and solar,” Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy and power subcommittee, said in opening remarks at a hearing on the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of President Obama’s climate change agenda.
The landmark plan was made final Aug. 3, requiring states to begin complying in a year by filing plans with the agency that define how they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one-third by 2030.
The final plan has a number of changes from the proposal, including a program that rewards states for doing more to increase solar and wind power ahead of the 2022 implementation deadline. Many, including Whitfield, see that strategy as one that seeks to replace coal and natural gas in a scheme that the energy industry calls “decarbonization,” which seeks to drastically reduce fossil fuel emissions through the middle of the century.
“Last August, EPA announced the final versions, and unfortunately none of the fundamental concerns we’ve raised appear to have been addressed,” Whitfield said. “This EPA has become the political arm of the White House, issuing regulations by fiat.”
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said the cost of the rules will rise, as it has under other utility regulations.
“As it is, electricity rates have risen in recent years, and other EPA regulations have been a contributor,” Upton said. “The rules we’re examining today will further add to this burden that disproportionately hurts low-income households, and will continue to threaten grid reliability across the country.”
Janet McCabe, the EPA’s acting assistant administrator for Clean Air and Radiation and the only witness at the hearing, argued that the rules take into consideration the states’ concerns, including reliability of the grid and costs. The final rule, she noted, allows more time for states to comply and offers them ways of gaining even more time if necessary.
“At a time when our fragile economic recovery is teetering on the edge amidst global market volatility, EPA’s regulations on their own do significant damage — but cumulatively they will break the camel’s back,” Upton said.
