House Passes Bill to Stop EPA’s Pending CO2 Regulation from Shutting Down More Michigan Power Plants and Increasing Electricity Rates

WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 25, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10) issued the following statement after House passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015 (H.R. 2042), legislation that would delay implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed plan to force mandatory carbon dioxide (CO2) standards on state electricity systems and allow states to opt out entirely if the standards would increase rates for consumers and/or would jeopardize reliability:

“As soon as tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue its opinion in the case Michigan v. EPA, making a final determination as to whether the EPA needs to take the cost of compliance into consideration when imposing new mercury restrictions on power plants. However, as Michigan and twenty other states fought EPA in court, 9 power plants that served residents from across the state of Michigan shut down, including plants in Marysville and Harbor Beach.  For the operators of those plants, the EPA restrictions proved too costly.

“Today, faced with yet another costly EPA regulation also being fought in court, this time to reduce CO2, more Michigan power plants face the possibility of having to shut down before the judicial review is complete – reducing access to affordable energy and costing Michigan more jobs. 

“To prevent this new regulation from shutting down more plants, the House passed legislation that would delay its implementation until its legality is determined by the courts. Additionally, the House measure restores states’ authority to oversee their respective electricity policies by allowing them to opt out of the EPA CO2 standards if they believe they would jeopardize energy affordability and reliability. 

“I have long supported the all-of-the-above approach to addressing our growing energy needs.  Unfortunately, between the EPA’s overregulation of coal and oil burning facilities and, now, state opponents to tapping alternate abundant sources like natural gas through fracking, we are significantly hindering our ability to maintain a reliable source of low-cost energy critical to our economic vitality. Going forward, we must ensure that our energy policies, both federal and state, take the economic impact they will have on American businesses into consideration and also allow for adequate time for those impacted to make necessary investments in infrastructure.”  

The Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015 (H.R. 2042) extends compliance dates for EPA’s proposed rule, referred to by the agency as its “Clean Power Plan,” which would create mandatory CO2 standards for each state’s electricity system.  The legislation also provides safe harbor for states to protect ratepayers by negating the requirements if they determine the EPA’s plan would have a significant adverse effect on retail, commercial, or industrial ratepayers, or on the reliability of the state’s electricity system.  For more information, please visit the House Energy and Commerce Committee online.