WASHINGTON - U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) released the following statement today on the president’s American Energy Independence Executive Order that rescinds the Social Cost of Carbon, directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, and repeals EPA’s methane rule.
Chairman Smith: “President Trump is moving the country away from politically driven regulations and toward a more open and honest approach that will let technology and innovation lead the way to clean energy.
“By lifting the burden of flawed and politically calculated social cost of carbon models, President Trump frees us from the Obama administration’s expansive agenda that hand-picked industry sectors as winners and losers. President Trump is also rescinding a methane rule that imposes strict requirements on an industry that has voluntarily and drastically reduced methane emissions. The new president further rescues Americans from President Obama’s so-called Clean Power Plan that would have burdened us with excessive costs, all for a minuscule global temperature reduction of 0.03 degrees Celsius. This executive order by President Trump is a welcome victory for the American people.
“Open and honest science should be at the core of the EPA’s mission rather than rules that end up costing American taxpayers billions of dollars. I look forward to continuing to work with President Trump and Administrator Pruitt to ensure that the American people have a government that is on their side.”