Barry Cassell | Jun 19, 2012

Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla., Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, came out swinging in a floor speech June 18 ahead of a scheduled June 20 vote on his proposal to kill the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) rule, also known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).

Inhofe urged his colleagues to join him in his effort to put an end to President Barack Obama's “war on coal” just after Obama announced that he would veto the measure if it were to pass.

Said Inhofe in his prepared remarks for his floor speech: “Mr. President, as you know the Senate will take up a vote this week on my resolution, SJR 37, to stop the Environmental Protection Agency's Utility MACT rule, which is the centerpiece of President Obama's war on coal. As we look ahead to this vote, it's clear that there is a coordinated effort between the White House and Congressional Democrats to paint our efforts to stop an out of control EPA as extreme. This is breaking news: President Obama just issued a statement this afternoon that he will veto my resolution if it passes.”

Just before that announcement from the White House, Representatives Ed Markey and Henry Waxman came out with a new report detailing what Waxman has called the "most anti-environmental" House of Representatives in history, Inhofe noted. “I'd like to remind my Democratic friends that 19 House Democrats supported companion legislation in the House to stop the Utility MACT rule, and numerous Democrats and even unions have sent letters in support of my resolution, so it's not just Republicans whose constituents are feeling the pain of EPA's regulations,” Inhofe added.

"To my Democrat friends in the House, I beg to differ: it's not that this Congress is anti-environmental; it's that this EPA is the most radical EPA in history, aggressive to the point that even the left leaning Washington Post has called out the agency for ‘earning a reputation for abuse,’" he says.

Inhofe later added: “What is this effort really about?  It's about one thing only: killing coal - and killing coal is the centerpiece of their radial global warming agenda. Remember then-Senator Obama said that he voted against the health benefits in Clear Skies because he thought ‘global warming was critical.’

In other words, global warming was more important than any considerations regarding health. Importantly, the Senate will take this vote on my resolution just as world leaders gather in Rio for the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference.” Inhofe said that in large part, that Rio conference is about facilitating a wealth transfer from wealthy to poor countries in the guise of sustainable development.

 

Cassell is chief of coal generation for Generation Hub, an Energy Central

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