The House Subcommittees on Energy and Power and Environment and Economy recently held a joint hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed budget for fiscal year 2017.
“The costs of climate regulations are having real effects on people and family budgets,” U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), who serves a chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, said. “According to a National Economic Research Association study, electricity prices could increase by an average of 11 percent to 14 percent nationwide under the Clean Power Plan."
Subcommittee members were able to question EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who provided testimony at the hearing. McCarthy fielded an array of questions, covering her agency’s rules and regulations, like the Clean Power Plan and the recently updated National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone, as well as their impacts on the economy.
“Thousands of jobs are being lost throughout coal country in large part due to EPA regulations, with many more yet to come as several of the agency’s rules targeting coal have not fully taken effect,” Whitfield said.
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