Myth:  Comprehensive energy and climate regulations will create the incentives necessary to build the clean energy economy and help make America a leader for the 21^st century.

Reality:  The Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been pursuing an aggressive anti-economic growth agenda by attempting to impose radical environmental policies via regulations under the Clean Air Act.  These regulations would destroy jobs and stifle economic growth at a time when Americans can least afford it.

Example:  On December 21, 2011, President Obama’s EPA announced a final rule commonly known as the “Utility MACT” rule. 

• The rule would set new hazardous air pollutant emissions limits for coal and oil-fired power plants, as well as New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for electric generating units for particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.  

• The rule has been characterized as the most expensive rule ever imposed by the agency on the power sector with EPA estimating the total national annual cost of the rule will be $9.6 billion.

• The Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) accompanying the rule estimates annualized compliance costs of the requirements on coal-fired generation to be $9.4 billion in 2015, $8.6 billion in 2020, and $7.4 billion in 2030.

• Because costs are ultimately passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity prices, the Energy and Commerce Committee has formally requested cost estimates from the EPA.  Despite their repeated requests, the administration has failed to provide an estimate for the total cost of what is expected to be the most expensive rule ever imposed on America’s power sector.

Last fall, the House approved legislation that would have established an interagency committee to evaluate the economic impacts of EPA regulations and would have provided a stay of three harmful EPA emissions regulations.

Last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans continued to press the Obama administration for a transparent accounting of the EPA’s recently issued Utility MACT rule.  In a letter to the White House Chief to Staff, Republican Committee members cited a recent independent analysis projecting high costs and employment losses under the rule.  The independent analysis estimated the following:

• The net employment impact of the rule in 2015 to be a loss in income equivalent to 180,000 full-time jobs, inclusive of any job gains associated with installing retrofits and building new power plants; and

• EPA’s rule will result in losses in disposable income ranging between $35 and $71 billion dollars during the period 2012 through 2035.

The letter further stressed that an accurate cost estimate of the Utility MACT is crucial to determining the total cost and consequences of the EPA’s multiple power sector rules, as well as the cumulative impact of the EPA’s full suite of recent and pending regulations affecting the electricity sector.  Several power plants across the country have already announced premature closures and layoffs as a result of EPA’s new regulations. 

The president’s policies have stifled the nation’s economy.  The American people want accountability.

For questions or further information contact Sarah Makin