Political Quotes

“And my colleagues, I have before me a letter from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. We asked them very specific questions, and one was whether this would establish a back-door cap-and-trade program. They said, one, EPA has not adopted a cap-and-trade program to address greenhouse gas emissions; two, EPA is not considering or evaluating a cap-and-trade program to address these emissions under existing Clean Air Act authority; and they further went on to say they do not anticipate that they will do a cap-and-trade program. None of the five programs that they have adopted or are considering adopting to limit harmful pollutions are cap-and-trade programs. So when we hear Members get up and say, oh, they're about to adopt a cap-and-trade program because Jerry Seinfeld's show might lead you to that conclusion, it is not, according to Lisa Jackson, the head of EPA, their intent. EPA, under the law, is required to look at the science. Once they determined that carbon is a pollutant that causes harm to public health and the environment, they must regulate. They could, under their powers, fashion the regulation in a modest way, which is exactly what they've done. The regulations that they are implementing can be met through greater efficiency in these new sources that would emit such large amounts of carbon. That is a reasonable thing to do because it is beneficial for the industries to be more efficient.…”