CEI Leads Coalition Supporting the Stopping EPA Overreach Act

Full Document Available in PDF

Dear Mr. Speaker,

The undersigned organizations write to express our concerns about federal agency overreach, especially the Environmental Protection Agency’s campaign to de-carbonize the U.S. electric power sector and dictate national climate policy.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s climate-related regulations will have devastating consequences for the American economy, including higher energy prices and higher unemployment, while having almost no measurable impact on global greenhouse gas emissions. These regulations will be particularly harmful to lower income American families and those on fixed incomes, who spend a disproportionate amount of their earnings on energy.

One piece of legislation that addresses this overreach is the Stopping EPA Overreach Act, introduced by Representative Gary Palmer. H. R. 3880, which currently has 146 co-sponsors, would clarify that the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency or any other federal agency the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.  In doing so, it would nullify recent climate-related rulemaking such as the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards and Existing Source Performance Standards for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Under the Constitution, it is the people’s elected representatives who are empowered to make law, but executive branch agencies are more and more often ignoring the will of Congress. H. R. 3880 would require that the EPA follow the clear intent of Congress when it passed the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.     

We encourage you to move out of committee and hold a floor vote on this important legislation. If enacted, H. R. 3880 would stop EPA’s job-killing regulations, help keep energy costs affordable, and help restore an accountable regulatory system.

Sincerely,

Myron Ebell
Director, Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Melissa Ortiz
Founder and Principal
Able Americans

Susan Carleson
President
American Civil Rights Union

Phil Kerpen
President
American Commitment

Thomas J. Pyle
President
American Energy Alliance

Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values

Rick Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government

Brent Gardner
Vice President for Government Affairs
Americans for Prosperity

Dan Weber
CEO
Association of Mature American Citizens

Norm Singleton
President
Campaign for Liberty

KaLeigh Long
Executive Director
The Conservative Leadership PAC

E. Calvin Beisner
Founder and National Spokesman
Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation

Thomas Schatz
President
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

Craig Richardson
Executive Director
Energy and Environment Legal Institute

Adam Brandon
President and CEO
FreedomWorks

George Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom

Andresen Blom
Executive Director
Grassroot Hawaii, Inc.

Joseph Bast
President
The Heartland Institute

Andrew Langer
President
Institute for Liberty

Lisa Nelson
President
The Jeffersonian Project

Steven J. Milloy
Publisher
JunkScience.com

John Peterson
Director, Government Relations
Land Improvement Contractors of America

Seton Motley
President
Less Government

Dee Hodges
President
Maryland Taxpayers Association

Forest Thigpen
President
Mississippi Center for Public Policy

David Ridenour
President
National Center for Public Policy Research

Willes K. Lee
President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Kenneth Haapala
President
Science and Environmental Policy Project

Karen Kerrigan
President
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council

Judson Philips
Founder
Tea Party Nation

David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Brooke Rollins
President
Texas Public Policy Foundation

C. Preston Noell, III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Kevin L. Kearns
President
U. S. Business and Industry Council

Morton Blackwell
Chairman
The Weyrich Lunch

Peter Weyrich
Conservative Activist