On the recordJune 10, 2010
Mr. President, what is important is that everyone acknowledges, including the Obama administration, that moving forward with the EPA regulating CO2 emissions under the Clean Air Act would cause the economy to suffer. I want to quote something the Office of Management and Budget put out last August in a document. It says: Regulating CO2 under the Clean Air Act for the time is likely to have serious economic consequences for regulated entities throughout the U.S. economy, including small businesses and small communities. If you look at the impact on small businesses, farms, and ranches, the proponents are going to say: Well, the EPA is not intending to regulate smaller entities like that; we just want to get the big polluters. OK. We start at 100,000 tons. Well, in 2012, we move to 50,000 tons. I would argue--and it is supported by statements made by folks in the administration--the EPA Administrator has indicated that by 2016, they intend to regulate smaller emitters, if we get to 2016, because what will happen is this so-called tailoring rule will get challenged in the courts and it will likely get overturned because the Clean Air Act said the threshold for regulation is 250 tons.
