Fossil Energy Funding Debated as House Energy Spending Bill Hits Floor
Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
5/1/2015
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) unveiled this week a new strategy to fight the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed regulations for coal-fired power plants as he faced off against EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee concerning the EPA’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request. The proposed regulation sets state-specific carbon emissions reduction goals and requires the states to develop action plans to meet those goals. McConnell vowed to fight the regulations as soon as they were proposed and has amped up his efforts as the expected finalization of the rule this summer nears. At this week’s hearing, McConnell quoted a section of the Clean Air Act he says would give Congress oversight over a portion of the rule. “My constituents want their dignity restored. They want to be able to work. They want to be able to provide for their families. You cannot guarantee your carbon regulations won’t cost my constituents jobs. You cannot guarantee your carbon regulations won’t raise their utility bills,” McConnell said.
Within the proposed regulations EPA has supported the development of multi-state programs. Such agreements, however, would have to be approved by an act of Congress, McConnell said. “I’d like to acquaint you with section 102(c) of the Clean Air Act requirements,” McConnell said, going on to state that under that section of the Clean Air Act Congressional consent is required for cooperative agreements, such as the multi-state programs suggested in the proposed regulation. “’Unless and until it’s been approved by Congress,’” McConnell said, quoting the section. “Doesn’t seem ambivalent to me. I can assure you that as long as I’m Majority Leader of the Senate, this body’s not going to be signing off on any backdoor energy tax.”
In response, McCarthy said that she believes “that [EPA is] acting under the authority that Congress gave us under the Clean Air Act and we are going to be producing a rule that will stand its test of time in the courts.”
House Approves FY16 Spending Bill
Meanwhile, House lawmakers this week approved their version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill by a vote of 240-177. The bill would provide a total of $605 million for the Department of Energy’s fossil energy programs, an increase of 8 percent from DOE’s FY 2016 budget request of approximately $560 million, which largely matched current funding levels.
During floor debate on the bill this week, House Democrats offered various amendments to reverse the bill’s proposed funding increase for DOE’s fossil energy research and development programs, all of which were unsuccessful. Among the unsuccessful amendments was one proposed by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) that would have reduce funding for fossil energy by $34 million, and in turn increase funding for the energy efficiency and renewable energy programs by $25.5 million. The amendment failed by a vote of 173-248. “My amendment presents a question for the Congress this evening: Are we going to invest in the future of energy or are we going to continue to look backwards? We are certainly an all-of-the-above country when it comes to where we get our energy; however, that does not mean we have to be an all-of-the-above country when it comes to how we spend our Federal research dollars,” Swalwell said on the House floor.
House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) defended the increased funding for fossil energy research in the bill, saying that fossil energy provides the majority of the nation’s energy supply. “We are still investing in renewable energies. It is not that we are just ignoring those other things. In fact, we are investing $1.66 billion in those things. Fossil energy that we use much more than we do renewable energies, only investing $605 million in it. So our priorities, I believe, in this bill are in the right place,” Simpson said.
