OPINION:
Access to affordable and reliable electricity is about more than being able to turn on your lights when you get home from work. We need it to power our schools, supermarkets, hospitals, offices, manufacturing plants and airports. But like all things in life, electricity isn’t free. In fact, almost half of Texas’ population spends more than 15 percent of their annual household budget on energy costs alone. To stand up for the middle class, I have an obligation to fight for policies that keep energy affordable.
Unfortunately, Washington never seems to learn. Almost every day we are blindsided with regulations that disrupt our lives and impact our ability to provide for our families. This is more visible than ever with the Obama administration’s newest “Clean Power Plan.” While you might hear media reports about the noble intent of these regulations, don’t let misleading talking points fool you. The reality is that these regulations will make life more difficult for you and your family, and that’s why I’m leading the charge to stop them.
President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn’t look at everyday Americans when deciding policy. Instead it clings to its extreme ideological views. The so-called “Clean Power Plan” is yet another case of unelected bureaucrats writing rules, created out of thin air, which will have devastating effects on hardworking Americans.
If we don’t combat this indiscriminate war on American energy, approximately 33 percent of all coal-fired power plants — enough electricity for 60 million homes — stand to close. Texas is the sixth-largest producer of coal in the nation, and relies on coal for about one third of the state’s electricity portfolio. If these plants are forced to shutter operations, roughly 41,000 Texans could lose their jobs while being forced to pay more to keep the lights on at home. Making matters worse, the regulations set to be levied on Texas are 20 percent more stringent than the target national average.
This isn’t government working for the people. It’s government getting in the way.
One study projected that the proposed rules would cause “double-digit electricity rate increases” in 43 states, with a total national cost that could reach $479 billion over 15 years. That was the EPA’s initial proposal, and the regulations finalized in August may be even worse.
As I travel the Fourth Congressional District of Texas — in places like Rockwall, Sherman, Texarkana, Greenville, Bonham, and Paris — I meet all sorts of business owners trying to stay afloat. Manufacturing plants, office complexes, retail locations and restaurants all rely on affordable electricity to keep overhead low. This, in turn, enables them to expand operations, hire more employees and invest in new business lines — exactly the kind of free enterprise that has made America great.
Some argue that these costs should be born for the “greater good,” in hopes of significantly cutting carbon-dioxide emissions, but the facts say otherwise. It is estimated that these regulations would only reduce the global temperature by one one-hundredth of a degree Fahrenheit. Additionally, they would only cause sea levels to be reduced by 0.20 millimeter — which one analysis cites as “the thickness of one to two human hairs.” Why would the administration force Americans to sacrifice so much when even the most optimistic projections anticipate a rounding error in return?
Mr. Obama and his EPA should stop pushing politically motivated regulations that result in higher electricity prices, widespread loss of jobs, and lower take-home pay. The American people have suffered enough. Ronald Reagan put it best when he said, “The role of government is to foster opportunity, not smother it.” The constituents who sent me to Washington did not send me to sit idly and watch this administration, time after time, impose harmful regulations on the very people our economy depends on.
The legislation I have introduced would nullify these actions and prevent the EPA from ever issuing similar regulations again. At the end of the day, it is my job as an elected official to do what is in the best interest of the American people. I’m grateful for the 25 members of Congress who have already joined with me and co-sponsored these important bills. I look forward to growing this coalition as we collectively stand up to a reckless president and out-of-control executive branch.
• John Ratcliffe is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas.
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