U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today to voice her opposition to S.J. Res. 76. The resolution seeks to overturn a Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency rule that extends compliance deadlines for crude oil and natural gas facilities.
The EPA rule in question postpones several key deadlines: it delays when new or modified crude oil and natural gas facilities must comply with emissions standards, pushes back the implementation of the SuperEmitter Program, and extends the deadline for states to submit plans addressing greenhouse gas emissions from existing facilities.
Senator Capito argued that these extensions address what she described as harmful policies from the Biden administration, which she said imposed unachievable compliance standards on energy producers.
“Later today the Senate will vote on a motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 76, the CRA introduced by my colleague from California, Senator Schiff, to repeal the Trump EPA’s interim final rule that extends the compliance deadlines for the Biden administration’s stringent attack on oil and natural gas facilities," Capito said.
She continued: “Over the past four years, we witnessed an onslaught of regulation like nothing we have never seen before, an attack that specifically targeted affordable and reliable sources of energy like oil and natural gas, among others."
Capito criticized recent regulations as efforts aimed at shutting down conventional energy sources disfavored by some Democrats. She also blamed these policies for higher gasoline prices and challenges facing electric grid reliability.
“We must recognize that we are really in a critical moment for American energy. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has found that over the next ten years, due to a rise in energy consumption and the policy-driven retirement of our existing power generation, our country may face major electric reliability concerns," Capito stated.
She said regulations under President Biden's administration have encouraged a shift toward less reliable energy sources while discouraging domestic production of oil and natural gas.
Capito pointed out benefits associated with increased use of natural gas in recent decades. “According to the Energy Information Administration, the rapid expansion of natural gas in the US has decreased the power sector’s carbon dioxide emissions by 35% over the last 20 years. Additionally, upstream oil and gas production reduced its methane emissions by more than 40 percent over the last 10 years."
She called natural gas "an affordable, reliable and clean source of energy" essential for lowering U.S. emissions.
Capito concluded by urging her colleagues not to support S.J. Res. 76: “This CRA is an attempt to take us back to Biden-era energy policy, and I urge my colleagues to swiftly reject this motion to proceed.”
