Blog: The President's Latest Shot at the American Dream

Statement

In Washington and across the country, it is commonly believed and accepted that America cannot have a strong economy without a strong middle class. This idea is an important part of our success story and reinforces the basic principal of the American Dream: if you work hard you can achieve any goal.

Families and individuals in Oklahoma are working hard to achieve their American Dream, but regulations from this president and his administration are causing the cost of survival to climb higher than the amount of money that is brought home in a monthly paycheck.

The president dealt another blow to hardworking Americans this week with the release of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) final rule regulating emissions from power plants. The rule sets emissions standards for states with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. 32% by 2030.

Setting aside the fact that this rule goes well beyond the legal authority that was given to the EPA in the Clean Air Act, it is just plain dangerous for middle and lower class Americans.

The EPA has predicted that the rule will shut down nearly 3,000 gigawatts of Oklahoma coal generation in just five years. The real-life cost? A loss of jobs and reliability in our electric grid.

The Southwest Power Pool has predicted the emissions requirements will cost the region $2.9 billion each year to meet the EPA's compliance deadline. These costs will get passed onto families in their electricity bills.

In fact, we have already seen this happen. Just in July, the American Electrical Power-Public Service Co. (AEP-PSO) filed a request with Oklahoma state regulators to raise its revenues by $172 million annually to make up for the costs of meeting federal regulations in regional haze and air emissions. This raise translates to the average customer's bill increasing by $14.53 each month.

When was the last time the majority of Oklahomans received a $15 monthly raise? How are families supposed to absorb the cuts this administration keeps making to their budgets?

We need to use our country's vast energy resources while protecting the air we breathe, the water our kids swim in, and the land on which we raise our families. But, federal regulations that threaten the livelihoods of American families and trample states' rights are counterproductive.

In June, the House passed a bill to protect Americans from the president's emissions rule. The Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 2042), which I helped write, shields states from being required to adopt a state compliance plan or be subject to a federal plan if the governor notifies the EPA that the rule will have significant negative effects on the ratepayers or the reliability of the electricity system. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works--chaired by Oklahoma's senior U.S. senator, Jim Inhofe-- is working to pass this bill right now.

Several states, including Oklahoma, have already filed lawsuits against the EPA to challenge the legality of the president's rule. I will be watching these lawsuits closely and working with my colleagues in the Senate to make sure we hold the president accountable to families in Oklahoma and across the country.

We cannot let fundamentally flawed policies keep Americans from achieving their goals.

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