U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, led all Republican members of the committee in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin. The letter expresses support for the EPA’s proposed repeal of regulations on power plants known as Clean Power Plan 2.0 and urges the agency to finalize its proposed rule.
The senators argue that the Clean Power Plan 2.0 would threaten energy reliability in the United States by encouraging policy-driven retirements of power plants. They state that repealing these regulations is important for energy providers, utilities, and families across the country. The letter also claims that the regulations exceeded EPA’s authority and did not follow the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA.
“We support the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA or Agency) proposed rule repealing power plant standards promulgated under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). These standards misinterpreted the limited authority that Congress granted under Section 111 of the CAA in an attempt to expand the Agency’s authority under the CAA without clear congressional authorization. Further, the standards were unachievable, uneconomic, unreasonable, and promulgated with the intent to transform our nation’s power sector contrary to the limits of Section 111’s authority,” wrote the senators.
They continued: “Our nation currently needs more reliable and affordable electricity to power our economy, maintain our economic competitiveness, and win the Artificial Intelligence race. The current regulations – that your proposal will repeal – put us at risk by exacerbating electric reliability threats and spiking energy costs borne by American families and businesses.”
In their conclusion, they stated: “The repeal of these standards is the first step on a path to improved energy affordability and securing the reliability of our electric grid. We appreciate your leadership to restore American energy dominance and we request the EPA expeditiously finalize the proposed rule as a central effort to achieve that goal.”
Senators joining Capito in signing this letter include Kevin Cramer, Cynthia Lummis, John Curtis, Lindsey Graham, Dan Sullivan, Pete Ricketts, Roger Wicker, John Boozman, and Jon Husted.
