Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
10/30/2015
Lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced Congressional Review Act resolutions early this week to fight the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized carbon emissions standards for new and existing coal-fired power plants. The four resolutions, one for each of the two rules in the House and Senate, are unlikely to withstand presidential veto, and the resolutions’ sponsors are aware of that. “Our options to stop [the rules] are quite limited. We do have the possibility of the Congressional Review Act, but the weakness of that obviously is that even though we can pass it with a simple majority, [the president] is likely to veto it,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the chamber floor this week.
The controversial regulations set carbon emissions limits on coal-fired power plants under Sections 111(b) and 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. The 111(b) rule, referred to as the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), requires the use of partial carbon capture and storage on any new-build coal-fired power plant built in the U.S. The 111(d) rule, referred to as the Clean Power Plan (CPP), applies to existing coal-fired power plants. Under the CPP, states are required to develop action plans to meet federally set state-specific carbon emissions reduction goals. If a state does not or cannot submit its own plan, the EPA holds the authority to apply a federal implementation plan (FIP), which has taken the form of a market-based emissions trading program.
McConnell introduced the Senate Congressional Review Act resolution for the NSPS along with 46 Republican co-sponsors and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.). “Carbon capture sequestration has not been proven commercially, not at one plant in America. Yet these rules are based on using carbon capture sequestration,” Manchin said on the Senate floor.
Manchin, 46 Senate Republicans, and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) signed on to a sister resolution introduced by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) against the CPP. “On behalf of Americans across the country, Members of Congress now have the opportunity to express our concerns with these carbon mandates. We have an opportunity to weigh in about whether these burdensome regulations should go into effect. I believe that a majority of my colleagues understand the need for affordable and reliable energy, and that is why I am confident that Congress will pass these resolutions and place this critical issue of America’s economic future squarely on President Obama’s desk,” Capito said on the Senate floor.
Capito also acknowledged the unlikelihood of the resolutions making it past President Barack Obama’s desk, but suggested the congressional opposition could affect the international climate negotiations to take place in Paris in December at the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. COP21 is hoped to result in the formation of a new global climate agreement, which congressional Republicans have strongly opposed. Challenging the EPA regulations could send a signal to other nations that the president does not have the backing of Congress in the negotiations, Capito said. “Even if the president vetoes these resolutions— and we recognize the likelihood that he will—passing them will send a clear message to the world that the American people do not stand behind the President’s efforts to address climate change with economically catastrophic regulations,” she said.
On the House side, Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) introduced two Congressional Review Act resolutions, one against the NSPS and one against the CPP. The resolutions “would provide for Congressional disapproval of each rule, and that the rule shall have no force and effect. Under the Congressional Review Act, the agency may not issue the same or a substantially similar rule unless authorized by subsequent legislation,” according to a House Energy and Commerce Committee press release.
“There’s nothing in the Clean Air Act that authorizes EPA to implement these unprecedented rules. Just last week witnesses testified before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power regarding the regulations’ legal flaws and twenty-six states have already filed legal challenges. An EPA takeover of the electricity sector is a recipe for higher bills, reduced reliability, and job losses. These resolutions stand up for ratepayers, jobs, and affordable energy in Kentucky and throughout the country,” Whitfield said in the release.
The Whitfield resolutions will go before the House Energy and Commerce Energy and Power subcommittee on Nov. 3 for markup. The Senate resolution markups have not been scheduled at this time.
