Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar’s (R-AZ) Regional Haze Regulatory Relief Amendment and the Navajo Generating Station Amendment, initiatives aimed at preserving jobs and shielding communities from increased water and electricity costs, were approved as part of the Stop the War on Coal Act (H.R. 3409). The act, a package of bills that collectively will scale-back the Obama Administration’s war on coal, passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 232 to 175.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 21, 2012
CONTACT: Apryl Marie Fogel
AprylMarie.Fogel@mail.house.gov
House Passes Gosar Initiatives to Protect Arizona Jobs and Water Amendments scale back EPA regulatory overreach that threaten AZ Power Plants
Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar’s (R-AZ) Regional Haze Regulatory Relief Amendment and the Navajo Generating Station Amendment, initiatives aimed at preserving jobs and shielding communities from increased water and electricity costs, were approved as part of the Stop the War on Coal Act (H.R. 3409). The act, a package of bills that collectively will scale-back the Obama Administration’s war on coal, passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 232 to 175.
The Navajo Generating Station Amendment limits the authority of the EPA to issue regulations that threaten tribal jobs, Arizona’s water security, and the federal government’s legal obligations to Arizona tribes.
“The House today made clear that it does not want the EPA to eliminate tribal jobs and increase water and power rates,” said Congressman Gosar. “The Navajo Generating Station provides high paying jobs to many Native Americans as well as supplies affordable electricity to the Central Arizona Project—the largest aqueduct system in the country, which pumps water to eighty percent of our state’s population. Without it, the Arizona we know today would not exist.”
Congressman Gosar also put forth the Regional Haze Regulatory Relief Amendment with Congressman Berg (R-ND), Congressman Flake (R-AZ) and Congressman Lankford (R-OK) that would allow affected states to reject overreaching federal regulations for regional haze and replace them within two years with its own plan. If enacted, Arizona would be able to reject proposed burdensome federal regulations that threaten three eastern Arizona plants and put forth its own balanced plan.
“Hundreds of Arizonans showed up at EPA hearings this summer in protest of the Obama Administration’s one-size-fits-all regulations on our Eastern Arizona coal-powered plants. These regulations threaten thousands of jobs and would hamper our local economies with increased electricity prices,” Congressman Gosar continued. “I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure our states retain their legal right to regulate their own air quality in a balanced way.”
For more information on the EPA’s coal power regulations and PDFs of the amendments please click here.
