AUSTIN – Today the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Distinguished Senior Fellow-in-Residence and Director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment Kathleen Hartnett White, Director of the Center for the American Future Rob Henneke, and TPPF’s Fueling Freedom Project Director Doug Domenech issued the following statements on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of the Clean Power Plan final rule:
“The EPA Clean Power Plan (CPP) rule seizes sweeping power to overhaul and centrally control our nation’s entire system of electric power: fuel, generation, dispatch to the grid, transmission and consumption of electricity,” said White. “This vast power over the economy and our personal lives was never envisioned nor authorized by Congress in the Clean Air Act. Unlike cap and trade schemes or a carbon tax, EPA’s power plan carries the coercive force of the Clean Air Act in measures that are enforceable, verifiable, and quantifiable. Yet all these schemes are futile – all pain and no gain policies for the environment or climate. EPA claims its takeover of electric power would reduce alleged warming by the infinitesimal – 0.02 degrees Celsius. As the EPA Administrator herself even admitted, this rule is not about cutting pollution but about ‘leading the world’ to a binding treaty about climate change. Congress alone can halt this inglorious mess and restrain EPA’s unlawful, ever-expanding reach.”
“According to the EPA’s own data, the Clean Power Plan will have a negligible impact on global warming,” said Henneke. “At the same time, Texas energy rates are estimated to more than double by 2030 – disproportionately impacting low-income families. It is time to unplug the Clean Power Plan before the Administration’s oppressive regulatory mandate turns off the lights in Texas.”
“This latest rule does nothing for the environment, costs billions to implement, and hurts people and businesses by increasing the cost of electricity for everyone," said Domenech. "It is critical that states not comply with this unconstitutional rule. Economic vitality is at stake, jobs are at stake, and low income Americans will disproportionately suffer its consequences.”
The Texas Public Policy Foundation recently launched an Interstate Power Compact designed to protect states from the CPP. The compact, a constitutional tool, allows states to exercise their sovereignty and collectively write federal legislation, allowing them to develop – with federal approval – a dynamic, self-regulatory system that remains flexible enough to address changing needs. The foundation also released a paper by White titled The Facts About the Clean Power Plan.
The Honorable Kathleen Hartnett White is a distinguished senior fellow-in-residence and the director of the Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment. Former Chairman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (2001-2007).
The Honorable Rob Henneke is Director of the Center for the American Future. Henneke served as the twice-elected Kerr County Attorney and as Assistant Attorney General in the General Litigation division of the Texas Attorney General’s office.
The Honorable Doug Domenech is Director of the Fueling Freedom Project at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Domenech most recently served as Secretary of Natural Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia and served as White House Liaison and deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of the Interior.