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Human
Events...
Senate
kills effort to block EPA regulations on coal-powered plants
By Audrey
Hudson
6/20/2012
Legislation
to defeat an EPA emissions rule that critics say would kill thousands
of jobs
and raise electricity rates for consumers was killed in the Senate
Wednesday.
A handful
of Republicans sided with Democrats to block the measure on a
procedural vote
of 46 yeas to 53 nays, including Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee,
Kelly
Ayotte of New Hampshire, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and Susan
Collins and
Olympia Snow of Maine.
Democrats
who crossed over to vote with Republicans included Sens. Mary Landrieu
of
Louisiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and
Mark Warner
and Jim Webb of Virginia.
Republicans
say the mercury emission rules for coal-fired plants are the
centerpiece of
President Barack Obama’s war on coal.
“This
effectively kills coal in America,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.),
author of
the measure.
Republicans
said the regulations are the most expensive rules ever created by the
EPA, and
will cost consumers $10 billion a year in addition to killing 50,000
jobs.
“This is
just one battle in the administration’s war on jobs, but it has
devastating
consequences for real people and real families in my state and in many
others,”
said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“The
administration’s nonchalant attitude about these people is appalling,
but this
is precisely the danger of having unelected bureaucrats in Washington
playing
with the livelihoods of Americans as if they’re nothing more than
pieces on a
chessboard,” McConnell said.
Democrats
say job creation doesn’t have to come at the expense of clean air and
higher
environmental standards.
Sen. Jay
Rockefeller (D-W.V.) criticized the coal industry for fighting the new
regulations and said the business needs to face the real threats of
aging
plants, finite reserves, and the rise of natural gas as an alternative.
“The EPA
alone is not going to make or break coal. There are many forces
exerting
pressure and that agency is just one of them,” Rockefeller said.
Republicans
said regulations are an economic disaster shrouded in false claims
about public
health, but Rockefeller said the health benefits are “enormous.”
“I oppose this
resolution because I care so much about West Virginians,” said
Rockefeller,
whose coal rich state will be affected by the EPA regulations. “Without
good
health it’s difficult to hold down a job or live the American dream.
Chronic
illness is debilitating and impacts a family’s income, prosperity and
ultimately its happiness. EPA has relied on thousands of studies that
established the serious and long term impact of these pollutants on
premature
deaths, heart attacks, hospitalizations, pregnant women, babies and
children.”
Sen. John
Cornyn (R-Texas) said critics of the coal industry have “cast it in
apocalyptic
terms that have no bearing on reality.”
“It is a
job killing, ideologically driven attempt to cripple the coal industry
in the
U.S. -- an industry that employees a lot of people and feeds a lot of
families,
and this administration is unfortunately using the EPA to destroy a
reliable …
source of electricity,” Cornyn said.
“This is
another example of executive overreach. So stringent that no new
coal-fired
plant will be built in the U.S. no matter how modern or how clean the
technology will allow it to operate,” Cornyn said. “This is the
cheapest and
most abundant source of energy in this country and we are simply
killing it.”
Added Sen.
Jim Risch (R-Wyo.): “Why would anyone vote for this? This is absolute
foolishness.
Read this
and other articles at Human Events
http://www.humanevents.com/2012/06/20/senate-kills-effort-block-epa-regulations-coal-powered-plants/
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