Electricity Security and Affordability Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATTA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 3826. This amendment would make a clarification to the bill to make explicit that ``demonstration projects'' refer to projects that have received Federal Government funding or assistance. This responds to comments raised when the bill was marked up that the definition of ``demonstration project'' could be construed to sweep in any project receiving government support, including local tax assistance.

This amendment helps clarify the bill and also highlights the provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which apply to the EPA's proposed standards for new plants. The Energy Policy Act expressly prohibits EPA from considering technologies at Federally funded projects under DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative to be adequately demonstrated. The purpose of this is to prevent the premature mandating of technologies that are commercially viable.

EPA's determination that ``carbon capture and storage'' or CCS, technologies for new coal-fired power plants have been ``adequately demonstrated'' is not borne out in the real world. In the agency's proposed rule, the EPA cites four government-subsidized CCS power plant demonstration projects that are in various stages of planning development.

First, Southern Company's Kemper County, Mississippi, project is still under construction, subject to delays and cost overruns. In the company running the project's own words, this plant ``cannot be consistently replicated on a national level'' and ``should not serve as a primary basis for new emissions standards impacting all new coal-fired power plants.''

Next, Summit's Texas clean energy project is still in the planning stage. It does not yet have financing and has also been subject to multiple delays.

The third project, Hydrogen Energy California LLC's project, is still in the planning and permitting stages.

Lastly, SaskPower's Boundary Dam CCS project, a government funded, small 110-megawatt facility rebuild project in Canada is still under construction and reportedly $115 million over budget.

It seems very clear to the companies and institutions most involved with these CCS projects that they are not yet ready to be considered for commercial deployment. As one former Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy in the Obama administration suggested, it is disingenuous for the EPA to say that CCS is ready.

It should be very clear to the American taxpayers that this administration is working day and night to eliminate the use of coal in this country. In places like my home State of Ohio, where 78 percent of our energy comes from coal, the result will be higher electric bills for our families and seniors already dealing with increased health care costs as a result of ObamaCare.

We should be pursuing energy policies that will lead to more energy that is less expensive for people, rather than less energy that is more expensive for our citizens. As we know, increased energy costs impact the most vulnerable citizens in our country.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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