House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after co-sponsoring Republican Leadership’s Resolution of Disapproval to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases.

“The EPA has seriously overstepped its regulatory authority and placed millions of American jobs at risk by trying to use the Clean Air Act to enact a national energy tax. If the Administration is not stopped from proceeding with this economically disastrous plan, the EPA could potentially regulate everything from an oil refinery to an elementary school to a household lawnmower.

“The economic impacts of such a sweeping regulatory authority would be devastating to American energy production, small businesses, and family farms that would be forced to close due to increased taxes, higher business costs and an unstable economic environment. Rural Americans, who already spend 58 percent more on energy than the rest of the country, would be hit hardest as skyrocketing costs make their communities and businesses less competitive. With unemployment near 10 percent and our economy shedding 3.3 million jobs since last February, the last thing hard working Americans need is a backdoor maneuver to enact a job-killing national energy tax.

“This resolution, identical to the bipartisan resolution introduced in the U.S. Senate, is representative of the broad Congressional support for correcting EPA’s gross misinterpretation of the Clean Air Act. The American economy cannot afford to be subject to the reckless environmental views of this Administration and I look forward to working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this resolution.”

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