GHG Monitor
5/1/2015
IN CONGRESS
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted this week to advance Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield’s (R-Ky.) “Ratepayer Protection Act,” a bill aimed at halting the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants. The EPA’s proposal, which is currently the subject of several legal challenges, would set state-specific emissions reduction goals and requires states to develop and submit action plans to meet those goals through whatever means the state finds most appropriate. Whitfield’s bill, though, would delay implementation of the EPA’s proposed regulations until all legal challenges are resolved. The bill would also allow states to opt out of the regulation if they are able to prove that implementation would adversely affect electric rates or reliability.