Portman comments on proposed EPA rules for existing power plants

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has released the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed regulations on existing power plants:

“Today’s proposed rule by President Obama to cap carbon emissions at existing U.S. power plants is complex and costly, and will result in job loss and higher electricity costs for consumers. In many ways, it mirrors cap and trade proposals rejected by Congress.

"The proposed rules must be carefully scrutinized so we can understand how it will impact the reliability and security of our nation’s electric grid. EPA regulations have already had an impact on electricity generation in Ohio. In fact, companies have already announced that 41 electric generating units in Ohio will retire or convert to another fuel source by 2015.

“When President Obama outlined his top-down, one-size-fits-all EPA proposals two years ago, many of us in Ohio urged him not to expand the EPA’s regulatory overreach. Unfortunately, today we learned that he has chosen to double-down on his federal mandate approach. By doing so he is ignoring the pleas of Ohio businesses, manufacturers, and consumers who will be forced to pay the price of his costly proposed standards for new and existing power plants. Unfortunately, these EPA regulations will cost Ohio jobs and hurt consumers.

“Americans support a cleaner environment, but time and time again, they have rejected policies that require handcuffing our economy in exchange for vague environmental promises. Rather than unilaterally establishing burdensome regulations on the backs of Ohio’s coal miners and electricity consumers, the president should work with Congress to promote a consensus based energy plan that utilizes all of the abundant domestic resources at our disposal — including cleaner burning of coal, natural gas, nuclear, energy efficiency, and renewable resources — to lower energy costs and ensure we have access to reliable, affordable, and cleaner domestic energy.

"In addition, I will continue to work with my Senate colleagues to find a path forward to get my bipartisan energy efficiency legislation over the finish line. It is an example of an energy policy that is good for jobs, good for the environment, good for the economy, and good for Ohio taxpayers.”