The White House is strongly opposing legislation expected to pass the House Wednesday that would substantially impede the president’s climate change agenda and throw off course strict emission rules for power plants.
The White House issued two Statements of Administration Policy Tuesday night, telling House lawmakers that it is advising the president to veto the measures if sent to his desk.
The first bill is H.R. 2042, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which allows states to opt out of compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s contentious Clean Power Plan, a sweeping set of regulations meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. The plan is the centerpiece of President Obama’s agenda to combat the threat of global warming.
The bill would also allow states not to comply with the rules until they are fully vetted by the courts.
The GOP argues that the rules represent an attempt by EPA to overstep its authority by enforcing emission reductions for power plants through the states, instead of through the individual power plants. Lawmakers also contend the rules would drive up the cost of electricity, kill jobs in the coal sector and potentially cause power outages by forcing dozens of coal-fired generators to close prematurely.
The White House says that paring back the regulations would jeopardize the health of the most vulnerable Americans by preventing the reduction of harmful pollutants that are causing the Earth’s temperature to rise, resulting in droughts, flooding, increased disease and premature deaths due to lung and heart disease.
“Because H.R. 2042 threatens the health and economic welfare of current and future generations by blocking important standards to reduce carbon pollution from the power sector, if the President were presented with H.R. 2042, he would veto the bill,” the statement reads.
The bill would also “give governors unprecedented and broad discretion to avoid compliance with the [Clean Air Act], thereby delaying the delivery of important public health benefits,” the White House statement explains. “The bill’s effects would be felt hardest by those most at risk from the impacts of air pollution and climate change, such as the elderly, the infirm, children, native and tribal groups, and low-income populations.”
“In addition, the bill is premature and unnecessary. It is premature because the Clean Power Plan has not yet been finalized,” the White House adds.
The House is also expected to pass a spending bill this week to fund the EPA and Dept. of the Interior. The White House issued a separate statement of policy that says the president will veto the bill, HR 2822, if it reaches his desk.
“The bill drastically underfunds core Department of the Interior programs as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s operating budget, which supports nationwide protection of human health and our vital air, water and land resources,” the White House says. “Further, the bill includes numerous highly problematic ideological provisions that have no place in funding legislation.”
“These provisions threaten to undermine the ability of States and communities to address climate change and protect a resource that is essential to America’s health — clean water, as well as the most basic protections for America’s special places and the people and wildlife that rely on them,” the White House statement reads.
