On the recordJune 20, 2012
I come to the floor to join my colleagues from Alaska, from Oklahoma, and others to express my disapproval. I intend to vote in favor of the resolution of disapproval of the Environmental Protection Agency's mercury and air toxins standards rule, also known as Utility MACT. Now, of course, sometimes the debate, when we talk about pollution, when we talk about the byproducts of coal-fired powerplants, is cast in apocalyptic-like terms that have no real bearing on reality or in terms of the science and in terms of the economic impact of the rule or the health benefits supposedly to be derived. I want to talk about that just briefly. While this rule claims to be about public safety, it is a job- killing, ideologically driven attempt to cripple the coal industry in the United States, an industry that employs an awful lot of people, feeds a lot of families. This administration, unfortunately, is using the EPA to destroy a major source of reliable, affordable, base-lode electricity that we sorely need. The President talks about being for an all-of-the-above energy policy. Yet his administration, through this regulation we seek to disapprove today, is going to effectively take one of those most abundant, low-cost sources of energy off the table for the American people. Of course, Congress would never pass such a law in our own right, so the administration is using a ruling from an unelected group of bureaucrats who are not subject to political accountability.…
