[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 75 (Wednesday, April 29, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2105-S2106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              S. RES. 139

  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, today, I am bringing the Congressional 
Review Act resolution to the floor to challenge EPA's disapproval of 
Colorado's regional haze plan. I want to thank my colleagues Senator 
Hickenlooper and Senator Whitehouse for joining me in this effort.
  For decades, we have relied on a simple principle in this country to 
keep our air clean: States and the Federal Government work together to 
reduce pollution and protect public health. That includes programs like 
Regional Haze, which is designed to improve visibility in national 
parks and wilderness areas, like Rocky Mountain National Park in 
Northern Colorado.
  In 2022, Colorado submitted a good-faith plan to improve air quality. 
The State provided a range of solutions--including the voluntary, 
already-planned retirement of aging coal plants.
  The decisions to close these plants were driven by basic economics. 
Colorado utilities recognized that it no longer made sense to keep them 
open, based on the high costs of maintaining and operating. And so in 
its regional haze plan, Colorado incorporated these previously made 
decisions into the State's strategy to reduce air pollution.
  But EPA rejected Colorado's plan--not because it failed to meet 
Federal standards. EPA rejected it because President Trump is laser-
focused on keeping even aging coal plants operational, regardless of 
the costs or the desires of the local communities.
  EPA's disapproval of Colorado's plan was based on an unprecedented 
and flawed legal theory. EPA alleges that under section 110 of the 
Clean Air Act, Colorado must somehow prove these coal plant 
requirements would not violate the Constitution's takings clause, or, 
in other words, not constitute an illegal government seizure of private 
property. But that is an impossible case for the State to make. It is 
also not, in fact, what section 110 of the Clean Air Act requires or 
what Congress ever intended.
  And to make matters worse, the EPA made this shift without any 
meaningful public input. And the consequences of President Trump and 
Lee Zeldin's actions are real. They are real for Colorado and for the 
West and for this country.
  They are making it harder--harder--for Colorado to chart our own path 
on the energy transition and trying to force Coloradans to pay tens of 
millions of dollars to keep outdated coal plants running. And they are 
doing this at a moment when energy prices have already increased as a 
result of the administration's own reckless actions.

[[Page S2106]]

  Since President Trump's unprovoked war, gasoline prices have risen 
over 30 percent in Colorado. They have cut investments in the cheapest 
types of electricity, while promoting the most expensive. Everything 
the administration has done has made it harder for parents in Colorado 
to pay their bills and heat their homes, and now to take their children 
to enjoy some of the incredible national parks and public lands our 
State has to offer.
  If this ruling stands, it won't stop in Colorado. It could open the 
door to similar challenges across the country, weakening air quality 
protections and leaving States in an impossible position--responsible 
for results but stripping them of the tools and the authority to 
achieve them.
  And so I urge my colleagues to support S.J. Res. 139 to overturn the 
EPA's decision.
  I ask consent to yield back all time.
  I ask for the yeas and nays.

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