In House Testimony, Pomeroy Calls On Congress to Step In And Block EPA Greenhouse Gas Regulations
Press Release
Congressman Earl Pomeroy testified before the House Budget Committee today to call for congressional action to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from imposing new regulations on greenhouse gases -- action that Pomeroy said would hurt North Dakota's energy industry and drive up consumers' electricity bills.
In his testimony, Congressman Pomeroy renewed his pledge to fight to remove funding from the president's budget request that would be used by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases. The budget proposal includes $56 million for the EPA to develop and implement greenhouse gas regulations.
"I believe these regulations are ill-conceived fundamentally because they're based on a statute that was initially enacted to address an entirely different range of issues," Congress Pomeroy told the committee. "In North Dakota and many parts of the country, the energy sector is the primary engine that has kept our economy strong while the rest of the country has struggled. The current Clean Air Act was not developed for greenhouse gas emissions, and it does not work to try and shoehorn greenhouse gas emissions into this statute."
"I think we could lose jobs," he added. "We could lose jobs as early as this summer and freeze everything in place in terms of plant maintenance."
Congressman Pomeroy has also introduced legislation, H.R. 4396, the Save Our Energy Jobs Act, that would prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases altogether. This legislation was introduced in response to a recent EPA announcement that was moving forward on new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
In his testimony, Pomeroy also called on Congress to preserve tax incentives for oil and gas development. He said the incentives are critical to the growth of America's domestic energy industry, including the development of North Dakota's Bakken Shale formation, and the effort to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil.
Source