Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
9/11/2015
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity came out swinging this week with the release of a video and memo alleging that the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized carbon emissions standards are a “dressed-up version of the unpopular ‘cap and trade’ legislation from five years ago with a new name meant to deceive the public.”
The regulation, which was finalized Aug. 3, sets carbon emissions targets for each state and requires states to develop action plans to meet those goals. While the rule does not mandate that these goals be met through a market-based program such as cap and trade, it accepts such programs as compliance methods.
The ACCCE compares the new regulations to a failed cap and trade bill from 2009. The bill passed the House by a vote of 219-212, but was never brought to the floor of the Senate. The ACCCE credits the failed legislation for the loss of several Democratic members of the House, who had voted in favor of the bill, in the 2010 mid-term elections.
Further, the group links presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to the EPA regulation, due to her stated support of the regulation. “Just like President Obama, Secretary Clinton has been a steadfast supporter of ‘cap and trade.’ The ‘Obama / Clinton Cap and Trade II’ has all the signs of being the next political albatross for candidates and incumbents who support it.”
McConnell Vow to Continue Fight Against Regs.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also lashed out against the EPA regulations as Congress returned to session. In a column published in the Senator’s e-newsletter, McConnell vowed to continue fighting against the regulations.
In the column, McConnell notes measures he has already taken including urging the nation’s governors to refuse to comply and including language in the U.S. Senate Interior Appropriations bill barring the EPA from enacting the regulation.
“[T]his president won’t get the last word. I’ll keep up the fight against this administration and this EPA through the many tools at Congress’s disposal to rein in out-of-control bureaucrats. My promise is this: I will not sit idly by while this administration tries to wipe out the lifeblood of our state’s economy,” McConnell wrote.
