Subcommittee on Energy holds hearing regarding major EPA regulations

The House Energy and Power Subcommittee held a hearing on Wednesday to examine the impacts of major Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations on the American energy and industrial sectors.

The subcommittee cited the more than 3,900 rules that the EPA has issued since 2009 as one reason for the hearing. In addition to the Clean Power Plan, the agency has issued more than 100 greenhouse gas-related resolutions and other major rules affecting energy production and industrial activity. Subcommittee members raised concerns that the EPA is exceeding its statutory authority and becoming the nation’s energy regulator.

“Congress did not write the Clean Air Act to be the vehicle for taking command of state energy planning, the efficient and economical dispatch of electricity, or the production of oil and gas,” U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), chairman of the subcommittee, said. “Congress did not write the Clean Air Act to provide EPA with the ability to create new regulatory powers and authorities so it can ‘transform’ the nation’s energy system. Yet, this agency is pursuing these actions.”

Key stakeholders testifying before the subcommittee included Travis Kavulla, president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and vice chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission; David J. Ports, chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas; Lynn D. Helms, director of the North Dakota Industrial Commission and the Department of Natural Resources; and Charles McConnell, executive director of the Energy and Environmental Initiative at Rice University.