[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 23, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S4770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 512--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND THE PROPOSED RULES AND GUIDELINES 
         RELATING TO CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM POWER PLANTS

  Mr. VITTER (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Thune, Mr. Wicker, Mr. 
Inhofe, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Crapo, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Boozman, 
Mr. Coats, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Risch, Mr. 
McConnell, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Moran, Mr. Johanns, Mr. Barrasso, Ms. 
Murkowski, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Hatch, 
Mr. Toomey, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Lee, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Alexander, and Mr. 
Kirk) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Environment and Public Works:

                              S. Res. 512

       Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in 
     this preamble as the ``EPA'') proposed rules entitled 
     ``Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing 
     Stationary Sources: Electric Generating Units'' (79 Fed. Reg. 
     34830 (June 18, 2014)), and ``Carbon Pollution Standards for 
     Modified and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric 
     Generating Units'' (79 Fed. Reg. 34960 (June 18, 2014)), in 
     furtherance of the President's Climate Action Plan of June 
     2013;
       Whereas the proposed rules would result in a Federal 
     takeover of the electricity system of the United States 
     leading to significant increases in electricity rates and 
     additional energy costs for consumers and elimination of 
     access to abundant, affordable power, putting the 
     manufacturing of the United States at a competitive 
     disadvantage, threatening the diversity and reliability of 
     the electricity supply, and undermining energy security;
       Whereas increased energy costs will, as always, fall most 
     heavily on the elderly, the poor, and individuals on fixed 
     incomes;
       Whereas increased energy costs also result in job losses 
     and damage families, businesses, and local institutions such 
     as hospitals and schools;
       Whereas in the haste of the Administration to drive coal 
     and eventually natural gas from the energy generation 
     portfolio, the Administration has gone beyond the plain 
     reading of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), 
     disregarding whether the EPA has the legal authority to 
     propose and finalize rules and guidelines that include 
     elements from the cap-and-trade program rejected by the 
     United States Senate in June 2008;
       Whereas including emissions sources beyond the power plant 
     fence as opposed to only emissions sources inside the power 
     plant fence creates a cap-and-trade program;
       Whereas the President noted in the wake of the initial 
     failure of the proposed cap-and-trade program, ``There are 
     many ways to skin a cat'', demonstrating that the 
     Administration seems determined to accomplish 
     administratively what fails to be achieved through the 
     legislative process;
       Whereas at a time when manufacturers are shifting 
     production from overseas to the United States and investing 
     billions of dollars in the process, an Administration with a 
     poor management record decided to embark on a plan that will 
     result in energy rationing, pitting power plants against 
     refineries, chemical plants, and paper mills for the ability 
     to operate under the emissions requirements of the EPA;
       Whereas after adopting similar carbon constraints, European 
     countries experienced skyrocketing energy costs, economic 
     decline, and a lower standard of living;
       Whereas, on July 17, 2014, Australia repealed a carbon tax 
     because Australia found that the carbon tax eliminated jobs, 
     increased the cost of living for families, and did not 
     benefit the environment;
       Whereas the proposed rules mandate renewable energy use and 
     initiate demand destruction to shrink energy production and 
     usage, which will result in reduced economic opportunity at 
     the State level, forcing States to pick winners and losers 
     and choose between economic growth and energy affordability;
       Whereas history demonstrates that at the end of the 
     rulemaking process, the EPA will use its authority to 
     constrain State preferences on program design, potentially 
     even dictating policies that restrict when families of the 
     United States can do laundry or run the air-conditioning;
       Whereas impositions by the EPA almost guarantee that costs 
     will be maximized and passed along to ratepayers, the size 
     and scope of the Federal government will expand, and the role 
     of the States in the system of cooperative federalism will 
     continue to diminish;
       Whereas the EPA failed to provide a complete assessment of 
     the economic costs imposed by the proposed rules or the 
     benefits that may result;
       Whereas benefits from the proposed rules (as measured by 
     reductions in global average temperature, reductions in the 
     rate of sea level rise, increases in sea ice, or any other 
     measurement related to climate change) will be essentially 
     zero;
       Whereas, in 2009, former EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson 
     testified that ``U.S. action alone would not impact world 
     CO2 levels.'';
       Whereas on June 18, 2014, former EPA Administrator William 
     Reilly testified that ``Absent action by China, Brazil, India 
     and other fast-growing economies, what we do alone will not 
     suffice.'';
       Whereas China remains the largest emitter of carbon dioxide 
     in the world with increasing emissions rates;
       Whereas China continues to pursue aggressive economic 
     growth, and estimates indicate that China will pass the 
     United States as the largest economy in the world by 2016; 
     and
       Whereas while the Junior Senator from Massachusetts, now 
     Secretary of State John Kerry, said ``[W]e need to have an 
     agreement that does not leave enormous components of the 
     world's contributors and future contributors of this problem 
     out of the solution'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the proposed rule of the Environmental Protection 
     Agency entitled ``Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for 
     Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Generating Units'' (79 
     Fed. Reg. 34830 (June 18, 2014)), should be withdrawn; and
       (2) the proposed rule of the Environmental Protection 
     Agency entitled ``Carbon Pollution Standards for Modified and 
     Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Generating Units'' 
     (79 Fed. Reg. 34960 (June 18, 2014)), should be withdrawn.

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