Smith votes in favor of Senate joint resolutions opposing Clean Power Plan

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the Science, Space and Technology Committee, condemned the Obama Administration’s efforts to combat climate change this week after voting to advance measures that would block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan.

“This week, President Obama is in Paris trying to negotiate climate change regulations,” Smith said. “His pledge to cut U.S. carbon emissions by 28 percent in the next 10 years is an attempt to bypass Congress and the American people. But worse, his plan to get us there, the EPA’s Power Plan, will do a world of harm to Americans while doing almost nothing to impact climate change.”

Smith recently voted in favor of the Congressional disapproval of the EPA’s CO2 Rule for Existing Power Plants (S.J. Res. 24) and the Congressional disapproval of the EPA’s CO2 Rule for New Power Plants (S.J. Res. 23). The resolutions seek to prevent implementation of the agency’s Clean Power Plan, which is designed to cut carbon emissions from new and existing power plants using state-specific reduction targets determined by the EPA.

“This massive regulation will cause us to lose jobs and will increase electricity prices dramatically,” Smith said. “Few states will be hit as hard as Texas, where estimates show that energy costs could increase by 16 percent per year by 2030. That is why I have opposed this regulation at every turn, and that is why I will continue to oppose this administration’s extreme climate agenda. The alternative leaves Americans holding a costly tab for regulations they don’t want and that will have little impact on climate change.”