Disapproval of EPA Emission Standards Rule--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I come to the floor to join my colleagues from Alaska, from Oklahoma, and others to express my disapproval. I intend to vote in favor of the resolution of disapproval of the Environmental Protection Agency's mercury and air toxins standards rule, also known as Utility MACT.

Now, of course, sometimes the debate, when we talk about pollution, when we talk about the byproducts of coal-fired powerplants, is cast in apocalyptic-like terms that have no real bearing on reality or in terms of the science and in terms of the economic impact of the rule or the health benefits supposedly to be derived. I want to talk about that just briefly.

While this rule claims to be about public safety, it is a job-killing, ideologically driven attempt to cripple the coal industry in the United States, an industry that employs an awful lot of people, feeds a lot of families. This administration, unfortunately, is using the EPA to destroy a major source of reliable, affordable, base-lode electricity that we sorely need. The President talks about being for an all-of-the-above energy policy. Yet his administration, through this regulation we seek to disapprove today, is going to effectively take one of those most
abundant, low-cost sources of energy off the table for the American people.

Of course, Congress would never pass such a law in our own right, so the administration is using a ruling from an unelected group of bureaucrats who are not subject to political accountability. This is another example of executive overreach, and it is bad news for consumers and job creators alike.

Power companies have confirmed that Utility MACT standards for new power sources are so stringent that no new coal-fired powerplant will be built in the United States. No new coal-fired powerplant will be built in the United States, no matter how modern and how clean the technology will allow that powerplant to operate. So the consequences will be that Utility MACT will damage grid reliability. It will destroy jobs, and it will raise electricity prices--not a small matter when many of our seniors are on fixed incomes and are going to suffer as a result of this rule that does not do what its advocates tout it for.

The costs of Utility MACT will exceed the benefits by roughly 1,600 to 1. Some claim that does not matter, that benefits are benefits no matter what the cost, no matter how much, how many jobs it kills, no matter how much it raises the price of electricity on seniors in my State who are living in very hot summers. If we have another year like we had last year--I hope we do not. We had 100-degree temperatures more than 70 days--and I think it was even more than that--it will threaten the capacity of the power grid to even produce the electricity so people can run their air conditioners. The detriment to our seniors in terms of public health and in terms of cost, being on a fixed income, is quite evident.

According to the EPA, more than 99 percent of the health benefits from Utility MACT will not even come from mercury reductions but, rather, from reductions in particulate matter that are already regulated to safe levels under the Clean Air Act. So either the EPA will be double-counting existing benefits or else it will be setting new levels for other byproducts that are not justified by public health concerns.

In short, the benefits of this regulation are dubious, but the costs are real. They are already harming the U.S. economy with existing powerplants being shut down and others being scrapped. The United States currently has more than 1,400 coal-fired electricity-generating units operating at more than 600 plants.

Together, these powerplants generate almost half of the electricity produced in our country. Again, we are not talking about taking wind energy off the table. We are not talking about other ways to generate electricity. But this is one of the cheapest, most abundant sources of energy in our country, and we are simply killing it.

So sponsors of Utility MACT repeatedly tout its health benefits. But those are overstated. However, they understate the impact this will have on jobs. It will kill jobs. People will lose their jobs in a tough economy. I urge my colleagues to pull back the curtain on the EPA and see Utility MACT for what it is, an economic disaster shrouded in false claims about public health.

Americans deserve smart regulation based on logic and sound science. Utility MACT is the exact opposite and deserves to be rejected.

I yield the floor.

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