Tom Carper

Mr. Montgomery, thank you for your testimony.

The benefits to human health and welfare flowing from the regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act are substantial and they have positive economic effects.

Without such Federal regulations, we could experience another period of lawsuits, political warfare and public campaigns that would distract the industry's attention and divert it from the clear and certain path it is on now.

The UAW believes strongly that the regulation of tailpipe emissions under the Clean Air Act will help bring about these benefits while also creating jobs and helping to ensure a smooth and stable recovery for the auto industry.

The regulation of mobile sources as a win-win that produces oil independence for our Nation, a cleaner, healthier environment for ourselves and our children, and an increased number of jobs in the auto sector.

We need coal, we need really clean coal actually, but put bad stuff up in the air and it just blows our way.

The State of Maryland is showing that we as a country can do a lot more.

I do not think we can turn the clock back. I really do think we need to move forward aggressively in this area.

The role of Government is not to be the lap dog for business, but to try to provide a nurturing environment for job creation.

Investments made, in some cases in the Midwest, will actually benefit those of use who live in the rest of our country.

I see demand is going up but the price is going down. I know that seems counterintuitive, but that is what is happening.

Any delay would put a burden on this.

These clean air regulations help us save billions of dollars on public health costs while providing a multitude of opportunities for good paying American jobs.

I think Government has many roles to play. I think one of the most important roles we have to play is to try to provide what I call a nurturing environment for job creation, job preservation.

What I am interested in doing is making sure if we burn it, we have a lot of it, as we burn it to create electricity that we just burn it in a far more, a far cleaner way.

I think everybody is really on the same page.

We end up having to reduce our emissions in order to try to be in compliance with Federal environmental guidelines.

It is just not fair. We had to compete with these folks in terms of electricity costs.

Put another way, Clean Air Act benefits outweigh the costs by a margin of 30 to 1.

How does your experience at Brandon Shores match up with some of these studies?

We passed the first update that we have had in CAFE in so many years, a couple of years ago, 35, 36 mile fleet average per gallon.

The BP oil spill is evidence of the environmental and the economic consequence, an impact of our oil dependence.

Our country, I am told, accounts for more than 20 percent of global oil consumption.

However, about 70 percent of the oil that we consume in the U.S. comes from other countries, some of which are undemocratic, unstable.

How foolish can we be here? We have been warned or given that message one more time.