[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 50 (Thursday, April 7, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ENERGY TAX PREVENTION ACT OF 2011

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                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 6, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 910) to 
     amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit the Administrator of the 
     Environmental Protection Agency from promulgating any 
     regulation concerning, taking action relating to, or taking 
     into consideration the emission of a greenhouse gas to 
     address climate change, and for other purposes:

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chair, over forty years after the passage of the 
Clean Air Act, there are apparently still Members of this House who 
think you can't have jobs unless you have a polluted environment. 
Nothing could be further from the truth.
  Over the past 40 years, the Clean Air Act has reduced smog-producing 
sulfur dioxide and particulate pollution by 60% while our economy has 
nearly tripled. Since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, electricity 
production has increased and prices have remained stable. A rigorous, 
peer-reviewed analysis of the Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act 
from 1990-2020 conducted by the EPA found that air quality improvements 
under the Clean Air Act will save $2 trillion and prevent at least 
230,000 deaths annually.
  The record is clear: a healthy environment and a strong economy are 
not mutually exclusive. They go hand in hand. Which is why this attempt 
to gut the Clean Air Act by preventing EPA from regulating carbon 
pollution is so misplaced. Given our 40-year history with the Clean Air 
Act, the last thing Americans want is a bunch of politicians 
substituting their own ideological agenda for sound science and telling 
EPA it can't do its job.
  I urge a no vote.

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