House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement today on President Obama’s plan to unilaterally impose a national energy tax and wage a war on coal: 

“Years after a Democrat-controlled Congress rejected the President’s plan to impose a new national energy tax, President Obama is now trying to go at it alone and take unilateral action to push through job-destroying taxes and red tape. This is the latest example of President Obama’s long-running war on coal, which a White House advisor now openly admits ‘is exactly what’s needed.’ However, this is not only a war on coal. It’s a war on jobs, our economy, affordable energy, American families and small businesses.

While the President is calling for new energy taxes and regulations, which will cost jobs and increase energy prices, House Republicans this week will vote to expand American energy production in order to create jobs and lower energy prices. The difference couldn’t be starker. The President’s plan will cost tens of thousands of American jobs and impede economic growth. The Republican plan will create over a million jobs and generate $1.5 billion in new revenue.”