Whitfield, Bishop lead push to rescind EPA emission plan

U.S. Reps. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) and Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-Ga.) said they feel a proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules will have a negative impact on the generation of electrical power in the United States.

Whitfield and Bishop joined nearly 100 fellow lawmakers in outlining their concerns about the EPA’s proposed Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units in a letter Friday to President Barack Obama.

The letter summarizes potential problems by stating that the EPA’s proposal would sharply affect the “way we generate, transmit and consume electricity in the United States” by asserting federal influence in state electricity decision-making.

“(The) EPA specifically directs states to consider renewable energy standards, generation dispatch changes, co-firing or switching to natural gas, construction of new natural gas combined-cycle plants, transmission efficiency improvements, energy storage technology, plant retirements, expanding renewables like wind and solar, expanding nuclear, market-based trading programs, and demand-side energy efficiency and conservation programs,” Whitfield and Bishop said.

The authors of the letter concluded by agreeing that although their personal views or the views of their constituents may vary on the details of the regulations, they are “… all concerned that this rule is simply unworkable as proposed and, if finalized, would effectively give EPA control over a state’s generation, supply, and consumption of power.”

“I want to thank all of the members who joined together in this effort, and especially Representative Bishop for his dedication to affordable electricity, and for recognizing the dangerous impact of this EPA’s federal overreach,” Whitfield said regarding the letter. “EPA’s extreme actions are an attempt to force states and energy producers to conform to regulations that dramatically increase electricity costs, destroy American jobs and weaken our economy. I will not sit idly by as these regulations are made a reality.”

Whitfield chairs the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power. Bishop is a member of the House Committee on Appropriations.