Ed Whitfield: “I might say that during the time we had the hearing on this legislation, we had several State representatives from the…”

“I might say that during the time we had the hearing on this legislation, we had several State representatives from the State EPA come in and testify, and they all were talking about the absence of timely implementation guidance from EPA produces a lack of clarity. Both the Colorado, Arkansas, even the National Association of Clean Air Agencies wrote a letter to EPA on September 4, 2013, complaining about this. Now, I would remind everyone, this bill does not do anything about the science, trying to diminish the importance of science and coming forth with new regulations. All it does is says that if EPA comes out with a new regulation under the Clean Air Act, they must provide the guidance to the States and to the entities who want to build new plants. I might also say that the American Chemistry Council, particularly, raised this issue with us--and through their membership--of companies trying to build new manufacturing plants and meeting great difficulty because of the lack of clarity. I might also say, all of us are very much concerned about climate change, but I don't think America has to take a backseat to any other country in the world. Our CO<INF>2</INF> emissions are the lowest that they have been in 20 years.…”