Rep. Huffman on House "Blizzard" of Legislation to Undermine the Clean Air Act: "A Stocking Full of Gifts to Big Oil, and a Lump of Coal for Americans and the Rest of the World."

Press Release

Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) issued the following not-so-jolly statement today in response to continued efforts in the House of Representatives to undermine the EPA's Clean Power Plan, reverse progress on renewable energy and energy efficiency, and undercut President Obama's strategy to reduce carbon pollution and protect the climate at the Conference of Parties in Paris.

"This week, the House got into the holiday spirit by voting on three un-wise bills to put fossil fuel interests ahead of clean energy and public health," said Huffman. "These bills are ho-ho-horrible: they represent a stocking full of gifts to Big Oil, and a lump of coal for Americans and the rest of the world. These gift-wrapped holiday presents to the dirty energy industry would block the EPA from cleaning up the air we breathe and would stifle the development of clean renewable energy."

"'Twas the week of the Paris climate talks, and all through the House, only one creature was stirring: the radical climate change deniers nestled all snug in their leadership roles in the halls of Congress," added Huffman. "The leadership of this Congress will go down in history as promoting one of the most radically anti-environmental agendas we've ever seen. The American people, and the world leaders assembled in Paris for these essential climate talks, deserve a Congress who's good for goodness' sake!"

The House of Representatives voted on three bills this week designed to undermine progress in addressing dangerous climate change: S.J. Res. 23, S.J. Res. 24, and H.R. 8.

S.J. Res. 23 & 24 block the Clean Power Plan and rules for new coal-fired power plants: The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is an oversight tool that Congress may use to overturn a major rule issued by a federal agency by passing a joint resolution of disapproval. If S.J. Res. 23 & 24 are enacted, then the Clean Power Plan and EPA's rule for new power plants would not be implemented. This is particularly important since it would block this administration, or any future administration, from taking meaningful action to curb carbon emissions from power plants. The White House has threatened to veto S.J. Res. 23 and S.J. Res. 24 if they come to the President's desk, describing them as "threaten[ing] the health and economic welfare of future generations by blocking important standards to reduce carbon pollution from the power sector that take a flexible common sense approach to addressing carbon pollution."

H.R. 8 contains a number of controversial and partisan provisions designed to roll back progress on clean energy: The Administration has signaled that it strongly opposes H.R. 8 because it would undermine already successful initiatives designed to modernize the Nation's energy infrastructure and increase our energy efficiency. The legislation passed by the House today:

Provides additional subsidies to prop up the coal power industry‎ at the expense of consumers, the environment and cheaper, cleaner technologies;

Stacks the deck for the gas industry and against landowners, states and the environment in the pipeline permitting process;

Erects new barriers to the increasingly successful integration of clean, renewable and distributed energy technologies at almost every turn;

Reverses vital progress on energy efficiency across America.

Source