Resolution of Disapproval of EPA Rule--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the resolution offered by the Senator from Alaska disapproving a rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency concerning the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Our country must develop reasonable policies to spur the creation of green energy jobs, lessen our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We face an international race to lead the world in alternative energy technologies, and we can win that race if Congress enacts legislation to put a price on carbon and thus encourage investment here in the United States.

I have, however, serious concerns about unelected government officials at the EPA taking on this complicated issue instead of Congress. It is Congress that should establish the framework for regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. And it surely is significant that the House-passed climate bill, as well as the Kerry-Lieberman bill, recognized that fact by preempting some of the EPA's rules in this area.

The Agency's early rules on this topic give me cause for concern. They could affect some 34 businesses in my State that employ nearly 8,800 people. Incredibly, the EPA proposes to ignore the carbon neutrality of biomass and would place onerous permitting requirements on businesses, such as Maine's biomass plants and paper mills, which use biomass to provide energy for their operations. This reverses years of EPA considering biomass as carbon-neutral.

EPA's decisions could well result in the loss of jobs, leading to mill and plant closures and discouraging employers from investing. We simply cannot afford that result, particularly not in this tough economic climate.

The EPA's apparent stunning reversal in its view of biomass potentially would affect 14 biomass facilities in Maine in small rural towns such as Ashland, Fort Fairfield, and Livermore Falls.

A better way forward is for Congress to finally tackle this issue and pass comprehensive clean energy legislation. In December, I joined with my colleague, Senator MARIA CANTWELL, in introducing the bipartisan Carbon Limits and Energy for American Renewal Act, what we call the CLEAR Act. Our legislation would set up a mechanism for selling ``carbon shares'' to the few thousand fossil fuel producers and importers through monthly auctions. Under our bill, 75 percent of the auction's revenues would be returned directly to every citizen of the United States through rebate checks. The average family of four in Maine would stand to gain almost $400 each year. Our bill represents the right approach, a much more thoughtful approach than EPA's, and it would spur the development of green energy and the creation of green energy jobs.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance the practical concepts that are embodied in the CLEAR Act.

Let me be clear because there are diverse views on this issue in this Chamber. I believe global climate change and the development of alternatives to fossil fuels are significant and urgent priorities for our country. We must meet these economic and environmental challenges. The scientific evidence demonstrates the human contribution to climate change, and we must act to mitigate that impact. But we must proceed with care, and we should not allow the Federal EPA to charge ahead on a problem that affects every aspect of our already fragile economy. The preliminary steps the EPA has taken, including its decision to revisit the carbon neutrality of biomass, undermine my confidence in having the EPA proceed. It is Congress's job, not the EPA's, to decide how best to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

So for this reason, I will vote for the Murkowski resolution.

Thank you, Madam President.

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