Stop the Overreach

Last week, Americans waited to hear that Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown of the entire government over what was feared to be a failure to agree on ways to rein in out-of-control federal spending. Additionally, the U.S. House of Representatives thankfully moved to shutdown one specific component of our out-of-control federal regulatory stranglehold.

The Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011 passed the U.S. House last week with a bipartisan vote of 255-172. The bill removes EPA of authority to implement its overreaching attempt to regulate greenhouse gases and raise energy costs for American families and businesses.

EPA’s proposed regulatory scheme will have profound negative impacts for refiners and energy producers while gas prices are currently hovering around $4 a gallon. Additional increases in electricity and fuel costs will hit farmers, ranchers and American families especially hard at a time when many are struggling to make ends meet.

Americans should not have to endure regulatory policies with CERTAIN costs and OBSCURE benefits. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson has said repeatedly that unilateral regulation by the United States will not improve our environment, and that greenhouse gas regulation’s benefit to the environment is negligible.

Unelected bureaucrats at the EPA have increasingly exceeded their authority at the expense of the American taxpayer. While there seems to be hope for American families through the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, sadly, the president has indicated he would veto the Act should it reach his desk.

EPA's Proposed Green House Gas Rules Will Cap Competitiveness, Move Jobs Oversees

Over the holidays, EPA delivered the gift of more regulation and higher costs to Texans by issuing proposed rules for the federal implementation of their dubious greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations in the Lone Star State.

This proposed federal implementation plan most assuredly lowers our country’s competitiveness by imposing costs that businesses will not be able to justify, thereby creating artificial barriers to production not required by some of our most fierce rival countries. Giving a competitive advantage to these other countries means we will be exporting our jobs abroad rather than our products.

Of note in the implementation plan are the listed entities that will be potentially “impacted” by these new rules. The list is quite expansive and includes electricity production and chemical manufacturers, just to name a few.

Strategically not mentioned is production agriculture. You see, in an attempt to curb uprising from the public, EPA has narrowed its reach, scaling back its originally proposed GHG regulatory scheme to specifically omit agriculture production. However, what these overzealous regulators fail to comprehend is that producers of food and fiber (as well as all consumers) rely on the targeted industries. This means that while not directly impacted today, all of the costs associated with producing food are certain to rise, thus increasing the cost of food for you and the rest of America.

Something else to consider – EPA took the action to implement these rules when Congress could not do so. The leaders of the recently adjourned Congress could not muster the votes to pass GHG regulation because its members knew what the American people know – you can’t negotiate with yourself and expect to win.

We all agree we must be good stewards of the environment. But the greenhouse gas regulations EPA is implementing will lead to certain costs while chasing obscure benefits.