On the recordApril 6, 2011
I am delighted that we have this opportunity today to debate this important legislation. Over the last 2 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has been the most aggressive agency representing environmental causes in many, many years. Today, we have an opportunity to try to stop their unprecedented power grab. Even the longest-serving Member of this House, the distinguished Democrat from Michigan, Mr. John Dingell, whom we all respect and admire, said it would be a glorious mess if EPA ever tried to regulate greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide, one of the things they are trying to regulate, is necessary for human life. When we had hearings on this issue, Lisa Jackson, the administrator of EPA, came to the Congress. And she said, when asked the question, what kind of impact would their regulations have, she said it would have negligible impact on solving global warming unless other nations were willing to act as well. Now, what this really gets down to is about coal, because coal in America produces 52 percent of our electricity. In China, coal produces about 80 percent of their electricity. Electricity is produced at the lowest rate with coal. And that is necessary if America is going to be competitive in the global marketplace. That's why today you see China expanding its coal marketing and coal utilities to produce electricity. That's why in China you see so many jobs being produced because they produce at a very low cost.…
