Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has introduced the Energy Tax Prevention Act, legislation that would pre-empt the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gasses. Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, has written a letter to members of congress urging them to support this vital initiative:
"Since losing the Cap-and-Trade debate, Democrats have turned to the EPA to impose their radical environmental agenda on this country. The impetus behind Cap-and-Trade was to force Americans to move towards less efficient, more expensive sources of energy. Similarly, the EPA is attempting to achieve this end through the regulation of greenhouse gases.
"Standing on legally precarious ground, the EPA is citing the Clean Air Act as justification for its dubious agenda. Employing the Clean Air Act for objectives it was never intended to realize, the EPA has infringed on the legislative responsibilities of Congress.
"The Energy Tax Prevention Act has been introduced to put a stop to such regulatory overreach and abuse. Addressing one of the most pressing problems facing this country, the Energy Tax Prevention Act bars federal regulators from co-opting the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases.
"If the EPA continues on its current course, unelected federal bureaucrats will continue to unilaterally dictate ruinous economic policies. We should hold President Obama to his stated commitment to reassess America’s regulatory system in the name of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. The President should be reminded that the EPA’s initiatives to regulate greenhouse gasses would raise energy prices, destroy businesses, and ship jobs overseas. These policies are motivated not by science, and not out of concern for American industry, but by ideology alone.
"Rep. Upton seeks to restore the role of the U.S. congress in the development and implementation the nation’s climate and energy policy. Their bill is not a referendum on climate change or greenhouse gases but rather who will set our country’s energy policy—elected Representatives or unaccountable political appointees."