Regulations being imposed by President Obama in the final days of his administration are not being well thought out in an attempt to get them in by the end of the year, House Republicans said Wednesday.
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee met about the regulations Obama has handed down in the last few months and what is being proposed in the coming year. The GOP members of the committee expressed concerns about the speed at which the new rules are coming.
The committee has held multiple hearings about the administration’s environmental regulations, and Republicans have been critical at every turn. Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, of Texas, said he is concerned the administration’s rules are not supported by enough science.
“The speed at which these regulations are being finalized provides little certainty that these rules are based on a sound and transparent review of the underlying scientific data and analysis,” Smith said.
On the night before the hearing, the Republicans were handed a prime talking point that showed the Obama administration may not have done all its homework on the Clean Power Plan before releasing it.
The regulation cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the president’s signature environmental maneuver, was temporarily blocked by the Supreme Court while 29 states challenge it in a lower court. The stay is seen as a significant signal from the high court to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals about how the majority of justices are feeling about the rule.
“It’s another example of how far this president and administration will go to fulfill a politically driven agenda,” said Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas.
However, Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance for Clean Energy, pointed out that there’s no evidence that some government agencies, such as the Department of Energy, are speeding up the pace of new rules. The agency released 10 rules in 2014, 10 rules in 2015 and is considering 16 rules in 2016. Just one is a final rule, she said.
Jerry Bosworth, owner of a Texas air-conditioning business, told the committee that the biggest problem with regulations is that they’re being handed down in a one-size-fits-all manner.
He spoke about trying to sell high-efficiency furnaces in his home state, which go unsold. People there would rather deal with their old furnaces that are less efficient than pay the higher cost of a newer, more efficient furnace, he said.
Bosworth chalked this up to it simply being hot in Texas. Texans are far more likely to invest in a high-efficiency air conditioner than furnace, but nonetheless Texans are expected to pay as much as Minnesotans, who may not find the need for a high-efficiency air conditioner to be a good investment.
“There is a place for them, but it’s not in the whole United States,” Bosworth told the committee. “Where I live, air conditioning is more important.”
Those kind of expansive regulations seem to be a way for government agencies to raise money for themselves, said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga.
Loudermilk pointed to the amount of money that will be taken from businesses that need to get new permits to comply with regulations. “Who gains from all this,” he asked.
“It’s clear who gains in some of this regulation: It’s not the consumer, it’s not the individual citizen. It’s the government who’s the one that gains,” he said.
