Washington, D.C. – Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today submitted hundreds of pages of comments to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy, urging the agency to scrap its costly rule to regulate emissions from existing electric power plants in the U.S. Today is the deadline to submit formal comments on the proposal.
Chairman Smith: “This proposal is outrageous. Congress has not given the EPA the authority to re-write laws or discover new powers for the sake of expediency. This proposal mocks our constitutional framework and subverts the rule of law. We have already spent too much time on a bad idea. Scrap this proposal and come up with something workable."
The goal of the comments is to provide the EPA with critical information obtained by the Committee in exercising its jurisdictional responsibilities. Over the past few months, the Committee has held several hearings focused on the technical and scientific issues underpinning this proposal.
All regulations must have a sound scientific basis. The Science Committee’s comments highlight questions related to the technical, scientific and policy underpinnings of the proposal. Chairman Smith’s letter states that until these deficiencies are addressed and adequate peer review is undertaken, the EPA stands in default.
The copy of Chairman Smith’s cover letter to the formal comments can be found here.
Official comments can be found here.
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