WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) led 41 of their Senate colleagues in introducing a formal challenge to the Biden administration’s regulations intended to shut down American power plants through a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval.
The resolution comes after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final rules that impose unrealistic emissions requirements on existing coal-fired power plants and newly constructed gas-fired power plants. This attempt to force the closure of power plants that supply America’s baseload electricity was previously tried under President Obama and overturned by the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA.
“The President’s ‘Clean Power Plan 2.0’ completely disregards growing energy demand, feasibility, and cost,” said Risch. “We must embrace an all-of-the-above energy strategy and build reliable, baseload energy sources—not hamstring the ones we already have.”
“The Biden Administration continues to promote its radical green agenda at the expense of American families and communities, this time through a harmful rule that seeks to shut down our nation’s critical baseload power sources," said Crapo. "This CRA pushes back on this overreaching rule, which is the result of this Administration’s continued attempts to kowtow to climate activists without any consideration of practicability and cost.”
“With this Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval, every member of Congress will have the opportunity to protect America’s energy future, heed the warnings of our nation’s electric grid operators, and adhere to the precedent set by the Supreme Court. This vote is an important one because the Biden administration’s Clean Power Plan 2.0 makes it clear it will stand with climate activists, regardless of the harm that is sure to be done to families, workers, and communities across West Virginia and the rest of the country. I appreciate so many of my Senate and House colleagues for joining this bipartisan effort to reject another unrealistic, overreaching regulation, and I look forward to the vote,” Capito said.
U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (I-W.Va), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
Groups supporting the CRA resolution of disapproval include: National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Mining Association (NMA), National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), America’s Power, American Chemistry Council (ACC), Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA), American Petroleum Institute (API), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA), Western Energy Alliance, American Coal Council, Energy Policy Network, Reliable Energy Inc., Women’s Mining Coalition, Rocky Mountain Mining Institute, American Electric Power (AEP), Buckeye Power, Duke Energy, PBF Energy, Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES), Institute for Energy Research, Power the Future, Heritage Action, Conservative Political Action Coalition, Americans for Prosperity, American Energy Institute, American Consumer Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, ALEC Action, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.
