Republican senators hit out at the cost of two proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations aimed at reducing air pollution and slashing carbon emissions from the country’s power plants.
During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Tuesday, GOP lawmakers expressed concern that more stringent limits on ozone pollution and President Obama’s Clean Power Plan would hurt taxpayers. Multiple senators criticized the EPA for imposing new costs on utility companies, both public and private.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, said the regulations could cause energy costs to families in her coal-dependent state to rise between 17 percent and 22 percent.
“This is going to have a cost to them, a human cost,” she said.
The Clean Power Plan is President Obama’s sweeping measure to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 32 percent by 2030. Most scientists blame carbon emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, for driving manmade climate change.
On Oct. 1, the EPA is scheduled to release new standards for ozone pollution. Ozone is the primary component of smog.
The current ozone regulations are set at 75 parts per billion. It’s likely the new rule would drop that standard to between 65 parts per billion and 70 parts per billion, though many environmental groups are advocating a much more stringent regulation.
Committee Chairman Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said the EPA is attempting to restructure the country’s entire energy system. The Clean Power Plan and ozone regulations are likely to drive investment overseas to countries with much less stringent environmental protections, he said.
He, with other Republicans on the committee, pointed to the lack of enthusiasm from many states as proof the EPA didn’t get enough input on the plan.
“The EPA is essentially cutting corners in a shameless attempt to promote President Obama’s environmental legacy,” he said.
Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, testified in defense of the two regulations. She said the concerns voiced by Republicans that stricter rules about air pollution would harm the economy are off base.
“We are convinced by both our analyses and our experiences that both the carbon pollution reduction called for under the Clean Power Plan and the attainment of the ozone standard will extend the trajectory of the last 40 years when we’ve cut air pollution 70 percent — all while our economy has tripled,” she said.
Much of the criticism of the regulations centers on how many counties and plants in the country would no longer be in compliance with regulations if the ozone standard is lowered and the Clean Power Plan is put into effect.
McCabe said those criticisms miss the point.
“They’re not required to meet them tomorrow,” she said of whether coal plants in West Virginia would be compliant under the Clean Power Plan. “They’re required to meet them overall, over the whole system, by 2030.”
Democrats on the committee hailed both regulations as steps in the right direction that show the United States is ready to lead when it comes to fighting climate change.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she’s hoping to see the EPA issue the strongest ozone standard possible. Boxer and other Democrats criticized Republicans for looking at the regulations only in economic terms instead of considering the benefits to public health.
“We all agree this child who suffers from asthma should be able to live a normal life, but from some of our rhetoric here it seems like we’re putting other interests ahead of children,” Boxer said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the new regulations could mean $42.1 billion in public health benefits for the country due to fewer sick days, less money spent on medical care for those affected by smog pollution and the reduction of the effects of climate change.
He said Republicans need to stop focusing on the political benefits of talking about jobs when it comes to environmental regulations.
“There is zero concern from the other side of the aisle about what that is costing,” Whitehouse said. “We really are in a better place if we work together to solve real problems instead of pretending they don’t exist.”
