Letter to Colleague

Letter

Dear Colleague:

We are writing to urge you to support H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from circumventing Congressional intent and moving forward with its global warming regulatory regime. EPA has begun to promulgate new rules under the Clean Air Act that have the potential to be the most complex, expansive and expensive in the agency's history. At the same time, as EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson herself has acknowledged, these complicated and costly regulations would not change future global emissions or bring down global temperatures -- all economic harm, with no environmental good.

Opponents of H.R. 910 have suggested the legislation will block EPA from safeguarding public health from the effects of air pollution, and will result in increased asthma attacks or other respiratory illnesses. EPA itself has concluded, however, that: "Current and projected ambient [greenhouse gas] concentrations remain well below published thresholds for any direct adverse health effects, such as respiratory or toxic effects." In fact, there is no evidence the EPA's actions were focused on addressing asthma. EPA's "endangerment finding" (the basis on which the agency is pursuing climate change regulations) refers only once to the term "asthma," and then only in the context of wildfires.

The truth is, the Energy Tax Prevention Act does not affect in any way the EPA's ability -- and responsibility -- to protect the public from hazardous air pollution. Regardless of whether or not EPA imposes its global warming regulations, EPA will continue to have the authority to regulate all of the high-priority pollutants that raise public health concerns. Nothing in H.R. 910 prevents EPA from continuing to regulate criteria pollutants, including particulate matter and ground-level ozone, as well as all of the hazardous pollutants identified in the Clean Air Act.

While H.R. 910 ensures the EPA continues to protect public health, it will also protect the nation's economic health by restricting the agency from imposing a broad array of new regulations that would eventually affect virtually all aspects of the U.S. economy, driving up the costs of gasoline, electricity, heating, cooling, food, goods and services. To protect the public from the harmful consequences of higher energy and other costs, we urge you to support H.R. 910 when it comes before the House of Representatives this week.

For more information, please contact Mary Neumayr on the Energy and Commerce Committee staff at x5-2927.

Sincerely,
Rep. Michael Burgess, MD
Energy and Commerce Committee

Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD
Energy and Commerce Committee

Rep. Bill Cassidy, MD
Energy and Commerce Committee

Rep. Tim Murphy
Energy and Commerce Committee