Republicans and Democrats on the House energy committee spent Thursday morning sparring over bills targeting Environmental Protection Agency rules, with the majority GOP prevailing in the end.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee moved two bills to the chamber’s floor that seek to roll back EPA deadlines for the brick kiln industry, while allowing certain coal plants to continue operating under cross-state air pollution rules.
The BRICK Act was approved, 28-22, along strict party lines. The bill would roll back EPA’s deadlines under new pollution rules for the brick and kiln industry, until a court has had time to rule on whether the regulations are lawful. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., says the brick industry is expected to incur significant economic burden from the rules.
The energy committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, said the industry does not need a bill to roll back its compliance deadlines but should work with the agency while maintaining the option of seeking a stay in federal court.
Illinois Democrat Rep. Bobby Rush said it is “false” to say the deadline for the EPA brick rule needs to be pushed back to allow for judicial review, when the courts already have the power to stay any regulation if it is found to harm the public interest.
Another controversial bill also was passed 29-22 along party lines. The SENSE Act allows power plants that burn coal refuse to be given additional allowances by EPA to continue operation.
Democratic members of the committee, including Pallone, tried hard to block the measure, forcing roll call votes on amendments that would hobble the GOP-backed measure.
New York Democrats Rep. Paul Tonko and Rep. Eliot Engel argued that the bill seeks to pick winners and losers and thereby takes power away from the states in keeping the plants operational. It “tips the scales for coal refuse plants over all other plants,” Pallone said.
Whitfield fired back: “EPA is the one that picks winners and losers.” He said the SENSE Act addresses power plants that burn coal refuse, which provides an environmental benefit by turning a waste product into electricity. The plants make up a relatively small number of the nation’s power plants, and coal refuse burning “won’t go on forever, because eventually it will be cleaned up.”
In addition, the energy committee passed more than a dozen other bills with bipartisan support.
Many of the bills would aid in the construction of hydroelectric dams, support energy efficiency and create opportunities for employment in the energy sector.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified the vote count for the BRICK Act. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
