Sen. Jim Inhofe slammed Tuesday the EPA’s climate plan for existing utilities, saying the administration’s regulations “undermine” the relationship between states and the federal government and will have no impact on reducing carbon pollution.
The Oklahoma Republican, who chairs theSenate environment committee,charged against the EPA’s Clean Power Plan at a hearing he convened in the Environment and Public Works Committee to address how states will meet the plan’s greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Inhofe’s opening remarks attempted to paint a picture that a growing number of states oppose the proposed climate regulations, including his home state of Oklahoma, which is a party to a lawsuit suing EPA on the grounds the plan is federal overreach.
He put up charts showing that 32 states now oppose the rule, including his state that has joined a lawsuit opposing the Clean Power Plan in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Nine states have passed resolutions opposing the EPA plan, and 5 states have passed laws opposing the regulations, he said.
Inhofe’s comments come just days after EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told the National League of Cities that the utility rules will help states with job growth and economic opportunity. She ensured that state and local governments should not fear the plan, but should welcome it as an opportunity and will be reaching out to states to extend assistance.
Inhofe said the proposed climate rule “undermines” the long history of federalism with the states that will “force states” to change their electric power mix, and likely drive up costs and undermine reliability.
McCarthy “admitted that the agency has yet to do modeling” on the proposed benefits of the rule in reducing the threat of global warming, he said. An analysis by the consulting firm NERA used EPA’s own modeling to show double digit increases in electric prices, while having near zero impacts on greenhouse gas reductions, including no significant change in combatting sea level rise.
The EPA’s rule is “damaging” to states and constitutes a “selfish power grab” by EPA, Inhofe said. “We have been through these arguments before” in trying to pass a cap- and-trade bill when Democrats controlled the House and Senate and the bill still failed.
Meanwhile, the committee’s ranking Democrat Barbara Boxer from California countered that states “have to address [greenhouse gases] to combat dangerous climate change.” She said 2014 is the “warmest year on record” that is exacerbating California’s drought. And if temperatures continue to rise there is an “80 percent chance of mega drought in the entire West.”
“States should be working together to combat climate change,” she said. “We can sit here and say it is not a problem,” but the U.S. people say otherwise.
A majority of witnesses on the panel representing Indiana, Wisconsin and Wyoming pointed out significant problems with the climate rules that would likely drive up costs and pose threats to the delivery of electricity to consumers.
Boxer said she was “stunned” by the states “gloom and doom,” with California air chief Mary Nichols being one of the only supporters of the rule on the witness list.
