House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). Energy and Commerce Democrats/Facebook
House Democrats are renewing pressure on EPA to explain rollbacks for three major climate rules in the face of experts’ warnings of the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions globally.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), and Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chairman Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler requesting information and documents relating to the rollbacks of the Clean Power Plan, fuel economy standards for vehicles, and a rule on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.
The letter, sent Friday, follows up on a previous request the lawmakers sent Nov. 20. It seeks presentations, briefings, memorandums and other materials from the agency from Jan. 20, 2017, to the present.
They point out that a recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report forecasts dangers such as water shortages, dangerous flooding and loss of species as global temperatures rise, without dramatic changes in energy and land use.
“Despite these warnings, the Trump Administration abdicated the United States’ role as a global leader in meaningful climate action by announcing its intention to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris Climate Accord and disregarding consensus science that humans are a major driver of warming,” the lawmakers wrote.
Lawmakers called out EPA for attempting to renew changes to the New Source Review program as part of its replacement for the Clean Power Plan (Greenwire, Aug. 21, 2018).
They said that proposal, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, would increase emissions from the “oldest and dirtiest” power plants. And they note EPA’s own analysis predicted it would lead to 1,400 more deaths from exposure to fine particle pollution in 2030.
The letter also details the economic repercussions of the rule changes.
