Washington, D. C.

May 18, 2016

 

The Honorable Paul Ryan, Speaker

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D. C.

Via e-mail

 

Dear Mr. Speaker,

The undersigned organizations write to express our concerns about federal agency overreach, especially the Environmental Protection Agency’s campaign to de-carbonize the U.S. electric power sector and dictate national climate policy.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s climate-related regulations will have devastating consequences for the American economy, including higher energy prices and higher unemployment, while having almost no measurable impact on global greenhouse gas emissions. These regulations will be particularly harmful to lower income American families and those on fixed incomes, who spend a disproportionate amount of their earnings on energy.

One piece of legislation that addresses this overreach is the Stopping EPA Overreach Act, introduced by Representative Gary Palmer. H. R. 3880, which currently has 146 co-sponsors, would clarify that the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency or any other federal agency the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.  In doing so, it would nullify recent climate-related rulemaking such as the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards and Existing Source Performance Standards for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Under the Constitution, it is the people’s elected representatives who are empowered to make law, but executive branch agencies are more and more often ignoring the will of Congress. H. R. 3880 would require that the EPA follow the clear intent of Congress when it passed the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

We encourage you to move out of committee and hold a floor vote on this important legislation. If enacted, H. R. 3880 would stop EPA’s job-killing regulations, help keep energy costs affordable, and help restore an accountable regulatory system.

Sincerely,

Myron Ebell, Director, Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Melissa Ortiz, Founder and Principal, Able Americans

Susan Carleson, President, American Civil Rights Union

Phil Kerpen, President, American Commitment

Thomas J. Pyle, President, American Energy Alliance

Gary L. Bauer, President, American Values

Rick Manning, President, Americans for Limited Government

Brent Gardner, Vice President for Government Affairs, Americans for Prosperity

Dan Weber, CEO, Association of Mature American Citizens

Norm Singleton, President, Campaign for Liberty

KaLeigh Long, Executive Director, The Conservative Leadership PAC

E. Calvin Beisner, Founder and National Spokesman, Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation

Thomas Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

Craig Richardson, Executive Director, Energy and Environment Legal Institute

Adam Brandon, President and CEO, FreedomWorks

George Landrith, President, Frontiers of Freedom

Andresen Blom, Executive Director, Grassroot Hawaii, Inc.

Joseph Bast, President, The Heartland Institute

Andrew Langer, President, Institute for Liberty

Lisa Nelson, President, The Jeffersonian Project

Steven J. Milloy, Publisher, JunkScience.com

John Peterson, Director, Government Relations, Land Improvement Contractors of America

Seton Motley, President, Less Government

Dee Hodges, President, Maryland Taxpayers Association

Forest Thigpen, President, Mississippi Center for Public Policy

David Ridenour, President, National Center for Public Policy Research

Willes K. Lee, President, National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Kenneth Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project

Karen Kerrigan, President, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council

Judson Philips, Founder, Tea Party Nation

David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Brooke Rollins, President, Texas Public Policy Foundation

C. Preston Noell, III, President, Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Kevin L. Kearns, President, U.S. Business and Industry Council

Morton Blackwell, Chairman, The Weyrich Lunch

Peter Weyrich, Conservative Activist