As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power, I’m continuing the fight against President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) overregulation of our nation’s power plants without any regard to the consequences for our economy and consumers.

This week, the EPA is expected to release its proposed rule regulating carbon dioxide emissions from existing and modified electricity power plants. This effort is certain to result in a de facto cap and trade program, which Congress most recently rejected in 2009.  This regulation follows the proposed rule on new power plants, which essentially makes it illegal to build a power plant using coal as a fuel source. On May 27th, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a study on the anticipated regulation that suggests these proposed EPA regulations, if enacted, will cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of domestic jobs. The Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy report entitled “Assessing the Impact of Proposed New Carbon Regulations in the United States” argues that the combined regulations for new and existing power plants would lower U.S. Gross Domestic Product by $51 billion and lead to a loss of 224,000 U.S. jobs on average every year through 2030. Additionally, the study determined that these regulations could cause America’s electricity costs to rise by $289 billion through 2030.

Despite the steep price tag and impact to the economy, these expected EPA regulations will not have a meaningful impact on global carbon emissions, which the Administration claims causes climate change. Even EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy who has testified before The Energy and Power Subcommittee said these rules will have minimal benefit to overall carbon emissions. It is clear that this administration is pushing regulations that are full of costs and no benefits, ultimately bankrupting the American people. I will continue to fight for Americans to have affordable energy in the current trying economic climate.

In addition to previous EPA regulations that have already contributed to an unprecedented number of coal plant shutdowns, it is clear these proposed regulations could threaten the reliability of our nation’s power grid, our economic growth, and the price of power for consumers as we know it. I will continue to fight President Obama’s radical agenda and ensure the EPA’s regulatory assault does not go unchecked.

Please share your comments on this issue.