Sen. Murkowski Votes to Rein in Costly EPA Climate Regulations
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today voted to block the Obama administration from imposing costly new climate regulations on America’s economy.
Murkowski voted in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 23 and Senate Joint Resolution 24, which are both bipartisan resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block the administration’s so-called Clean Power Plan limits on carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants.
“The Obama administration has once again overstepped in attempting to drastically overhaul the way America generates its energy,” Murkowski said. “Command-and-control regulations from the EPA are not an acceptable climate policy for the United States. This regulatory regime was widely regarded as the worst way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the administration chose to pursue it anyways.”
Murkowski said the rule, promulgated by Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would make existing coal-fired power plants more expensive to operate, and new ones almost impossible to build, raising electricity prices, restricting economic growth, and harming job-creation
“The administration has failed to consider the impact that these regulations will have on the budgets of the American people,” Murkowski said. “While Alaska is currently exempt from these burdensome rules, we must remain vigilant in guarding against their expansion by an administration that appears to be more focused on striking a deal on climate change with the United Nations than meeting the energy needs of Americans.”
The CRA allows the Senate to vote down executive branch regulations.
Murkowski is chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Appropriations Interior-Environment Subcommittee. At her urging, EPA recognized Alaska’s unique needs and challenges and exempted the state from the rule for existing power plants earlier this year.
