Energy and Power Subcommittee Ranking Bobby Rush delivered the following opening remarks at the hearing titled, "A Review of EPA's Regulatory Activity During the Obama Administration: Energy and Industrial Sectors":
Mr. Chairman, as the EPA under the Obama Administration prepares legally-mandated regulations to protect the air, land, and water for all Americans, the majority party has insisted on digging in its heels and fighting these rules at every turn.
Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, it is impossible to address the most pressing issues associated with climate change if we simply follow the example of the Republican Party of putting our collective heads in the sand and kicking the problem down the road for another generation to tackle.
Mr. Chairman, all one has to do is look at any number of articles written over the past five years alone to read about thousand year floods wiping out parts of South Carolina or West Virginia.
Pick up a paper anytime over the last year or two to read about one hundred-year droughts gripping areas in the West.
In fact, Mr. Chairman, it seems almost annually now, that we are witnessing drought-fueled wildfires incinerate millions of acres of forests at a record pace from Alaska to California, claiming the lives of firefighters, destroying lives and devastating livelihoods.
Mr. Chairman, we understand that the Republican Party has never met a regulation that it did not want to kill, we get it.
However, at some point the majority party needs to stop simply trying to obstruct and follow the leads of President Obama, our allies around the world, and indeed, pretty much every other nation, and heed the warnings put forth by the world’s scientists and Mother Nature, herself.
Mr. Chairman, it is not enough to simply rail against the EPA for establishing regulations protecting our most sacred natural resources of air and water, just because these rules are perceived to hurt the profit margins of certain industries.
Mr. Chairman, there are other worthwhile benefits to society besides how much money a corporation earns in a quarter.
In fact, the Clean Air Act and the rules associated with it has been one of the most socially, environmentally and economically beneficial laws ever enacted by Congress, by any standard, period.
Time and time again we have heard from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that the EPA has overstepped its authority and is promulgating regulations that will hurt industry, kill jobs, and bring about the downfall of the American way of life as we know it.
And yet, the benefits of Clean Air Act programs have consistently outweighed the costs that we have been warned against at every turn.
In a recent report to Congress, the Office of Management and Budget found that, in aggregate, the 32 major rules promulgated by EPA between 2004 and 2014 had benefits between $160 billion and $788 billion, compared to costs of just $38 billion to $45 billion.
By 2020, the economic benefit of reducing air pollution is estimated at almost $2 trillion dollars, exceeding the costs by a 30 to 1 ratio.
So, Mr. Chairman, instead of always crying wolf over EPA rules, I would urge the majority party to work with those of us who want to address one of the world’s most pressing challenges and help find new strategies to address the issue of climate change that impacts every man, woman, and child in this country and around the world.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the balance of my time…
