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Rep. Gosar Statement on Supreme Court Blocking Obama’s Clean Power Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the United States Supreme Court issued a stay blocking implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan while 26 states, including Arizona, challenge this overreaching regulation in federal court:

For Immediate Release

Date: February 9, 2016

Contact: Steven D. Smith

Steven.Smith@mail.house.gov

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the United States Supreme Court issued a stay blocking implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan while 26 states, including Arizona, challenge this overreaching regulation in federal court:

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to block the EPA’s Clean Power Plan further solidifies the Obama Administration’s undisputed legacy of lawlessness. We can now add the Clean Power Plan to the long list of Obama’s executive actions rejected by federal courts. It is incomprehensible that this president has not learned by now that he cannot force his radical, unconstitutional environmental agenda onto the American people. Today’s decision makes it clear: Congress, not EPA bureaucrats at the behest of the president, should dictate our country’s environmental policies.

“I am proud to stand with the 26 states fighting to protect good paying jobs from a misguided regulation that will have negligible effects on greenhouse gas emissions. As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, I am more emboldened than ever to put an end to the lawless ways of the EPA and the Obama Administration by defending commonsense policies that protect hard-working families and our nation’s energy security.”


Background

American families are projected to lose almost $600 billion in disposable income as a result of EPA’s “Clean Power Plant Rule”. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy, all of this economic harm and destruction for our economies will only result in a 1.8% reduction of global carbon-dioxide emissions by the year 2030.

On June 24, 2015, the House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act. Congressman Gosar is a cosponsor of this legislation which prevents states from being forced to comply with EPA’s Clean Power plan and requires a comprehensive judicial review.

Congressman Gosar also offered an amendment to H.R. 2042 which required formal withdrawal of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan proposed rule published on June 18, 2014 and the supplemental proposed rule published on November 4, 2014. The amendment also required the EPA to consult with local governments and small businesses to commission a report on ways to further the goals of the Clean Air Act without new regulations and required legislation to be passed by Congress before any new regulations for power plants can be implemented.

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