NTU urges all Senators to vote “YES” on S.J. Res. 26, the resolution disapproving the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) “endangerment finding” with regard to greenhouse gases. Introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), this resolution would protect Congressional prerogative by preventing the EPA from unilaterally imposing upon the American public a regulatory nightmare of epic proportions.
If the EPA is allowed to move forward with an endangerment finding aimed at restricting carbon dioxide emissions, the resulting explosion in regulatory burdens would dramatically harm American businesses and consumers. Imposing overly-strict emissions targets that were drafted for gases of a completely different nature than carbon dioxide would likely lead to higher costs for energy users and substantial confusion about the impact on businesses, buildings, and even churches. While the "tailoring rule" proposes to mitigate this problem, it fails to allow sufficient Congressional input and suffers from Constitutional questions. An endangerment finding would undermine the already anemic efficiency and workload capacity of federal agencies as well, due to the likely flood of thousands of new permit applications.
S.J. Res. 26 would apply the simple solution of reasserting Congressional authority and preventing these enormously consequential changes from playing out through regulation rather than legislation. We urge all Senators to vote "YES" on S.J. Res. 26, and roll call votes on the resolution will be significantly weighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
If you have any questions, please contact
NTU Director of Government Affairs Andrew Moylan at (703) 683-5700