WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, 11 Senate Western Caucus Members praised the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement that they will review the 2009 Endangerment Finding. The Endangerment Finding was a flawed Obama-era policy that unleashed excessive federal regulation on American energy sectors and imposed financial burdens on hardworking families in pursuit of radical climate activism. The EPA’s review action this week marks what may be one of the most substantial deregulatory efforts in American history.
“The era of weaponizing environmental policy against American workers is over,” said Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). “President Trump and Administrator Zeldin have chosen prosperity, energy reliability, and common sense over the climate cult’s radical job-killing agenda. Today’s action is a major deal and recognizes that Wyoming coal, oil, and gas are vital American resources, not emissions to be regulated out of existence by unelected Washington bureaucrats.”
“For too long, radical environmentalists and their allies in the federal bureaucracy have waged war on our resource economy through overregulation, costing us jobs and forcing us to rely on overseas adversaries for energy that we can produce better and cheaper here at home,” said Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT). “I’m grateful to President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for their commitment to unleashing American energy, lowering costs, and ensuring our energy communities in Montana have the support they need to power our nation and restore American energy dominance on the world stage.”
“I have repeatedly pushed back on unilateral moves by federal agencies that lock out the voices of Idahoans and saddle consumers and small businesses with unnecessary, burdensome costs,” said Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID). “The EPA’s historic deregulatory move puts decision-making back in the hands of elected members of Congress, where we can have robust debate about the merits of sweeping environmental policy.”
“The endangerment finding was based on political expediency – not scientific standards,” said Senator John Barrasso (R-WY). “The Biden and Obama administrations routinely abused this rule as an excuse to roll out red tape that destroyed jobs across America. I applaud the Trump administration for working to rescind this rule and for restoring commonsense at the Environmental Protection Agency.”
“President Trump and the EPA are taking historic action to cut costly and burdensome energy regulations,” said Senator Jim Risch (R-ID). “Eliminating Obama-Biden era endangerment findings and EV mandates is a commonsense step to save taxpayer dollars, enhance consumers’ freedom of choice, and expand American-made energy.”
“Clean air and water is not a partisan issue, it’s something every American wants and expects,” said Senator John Boozman (R-AR). “The EPA, under a sweeping interpretation of its authority in the Obama and Biden eras, pushed overreaching and misguided regulations that harmed economic growth at the expense of all Americans. I applaud Administrator Zeldin and the Trump administration for correcting course and restoring common sense to protect the environment and health in a balanced and lawful way.”
“The time for weaponizing climate change at the expense of hard-working Americans is over,” said Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO). “This was never about science, it was about a left-wing ideology wrapped into an administrative state. I am proud to see President Trump and Administrator Zeldin make this historic deregulatory move prioritizing American manufacturing over the far-left’s job killing agenda and bring back jobs here at home.”
“Science and risk-based analysis are the foundation of effective policy,” said Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE). “An Obama-era ideological determination has been used to justify burdensome regulation and constrain consumer choice for 16 years. Since then, Democrats have twisted the law. They’ve warped science to push their political goals. This is a win for consumer choice, good government, and sound science.”
“President Trump and Lee Zeldin have taken a sledgehammer to ridiculous, burdensome, regulations and have unleashed American energy. This single act by Administrator Zeldin will have a monumental impact on our energy independence and will allow businesses to thrive again,” said Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).“I’m grateful for the historic leadership of this administration and look forward to the years ahead as we work together to make America energy dominant again.”
“For 15 years, the EPA under Democratic administrations have used the agency’s 2009 ‘endangerment finding’ to target American energy producers and kill good-paying jobs in this vital economic sector,” said Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK). “I fought against this EPA power grab as Alaska’s attorney general, and I’ve continued to fight against it and similar EPA actions as Alaska’s Senator. I applaud Administrator Zeldin for rescinding this erroneous finding that has underpinned so much of the far-left’s ridiculous and harmful ‘Green New Deal’ policies and sweeping ‘climate’ mandates. This is great news for American energy and jobs, for American energy security, and for energy-producing states, like Alaska.”
“EPA Administrator Zeldin and President Trump certainly got this one right. They listened to the voice of reason and they clarified the role of the endangerment finding in our energy and environmental policy,” said Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND). “Congress, the voters, and the Supreme Court certainly have all repeatedly weighed in and rejected the heavy-handed, command and control approach that the Obama and Biden administrations mandated when they relied upon this flawed endangerment finding and they used it to upend American energy. Power plants in the United States are really only responsible for a very small and a declining percentage of global greenhouse gas concentrations. Their contribution, frankly, is dwarfed by the emissions from large polluting countries like China and India where they are building new power plants at a very rapid pace. And by the way, their power plants don’t have the technology that actually reduces greenhouse gas emissions like we do. Increasing energy costs, decreasing grid reliability, and kneecapping economic competitiveness is really the real danger here that we have to avoid. Thanks again to Administrator Zeldin and President Trump for recognizing America’s energy excellence. I encourage North Dakotans and Americans, but I really want North Dakotans to make their voices heard throughout the public comment period as they draft new rules”.
Statement from Administrator Zeldin and Secretary Wright:
“With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end sixteen years of uncertainty for automakers and American consumers,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin. “In our work so far, many stakeholders have told me that the Obama and Biden EPAs twisted the law, ignored precedent, and warped science to achieve their preferred ends and stick American families with hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden taxes every single year. We heard loud and clear the concern that EPA’s GHG emissions standards themselves, not carbon dioxide which the Finding never assessed independently, was the real threat to Americans’ livelihoods. If finalized, rescinding the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations would end $1 trillion or more in hidden taxes on American businesses and families.”
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, America is returning to free and open dialogue around climate and energy policy – driving the focus back to following the data,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Today’s announcement is a monumental step toward returning to commonsense policies that expand access to affordable, reliable, secure energy and improve quality of life for all Americans.”
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