Maybe this? They are trying to strip Obama and EPA of their power...
House Republicans turn to gas price pitch in bid to block EPA climate rules
By Ben Geman - 03/08/11 04:45 PM ET
House Republicans seeking to block EPA climate regulations are increasingly casting their legislation as a tonic for rising gasoline costs – and drawing quick pushback from Democrats in the process.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) is circulating a letter to colleagues headlined “Concerned About High Gas Prices?” that urges co-sponsorship of his bill that would nullify EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases.
“H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, is the first in this legislative series to stop rising gas prices by halting EPA’s Clean Air Act greenhouse gas regulations,” states the March 8 letter he’s circulating with Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), the chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee who is the measure’s co-sponsor.
“As one small refiner testifying before the Committee on Energy and Commerce put it: ‘EPA’s proposed [greenhouse gas] regulations for both refinery expansions and existing facilities will likely have a devastating effect on… all of our nation’s fuels producers…. If small refiners are forced out of business, competition will suffer and American motorists, truckers and farmers will be increasingly reliant on foreign refiners to supply our nation’s gasoline and diesel fuel,’” the letter adds.
Democrats are working to counter the notion that blocking EPA climate rules – which the agency began phasing in early this year – will lower prices at the pump.
“The GOP has no plans to deal with energy costs in the short term, and no plans to reduce our oil dependence and fuel costs in the long term,” said an aide to a group of Democrats that are fighting the legislation.
However, two senior House Democrats – Reps. Nick Rahall (W.Va.) and Collin Peterson (Minn.) – have also signed on as original co-sponsors of the bill to thwart EPA. The Energy and Power Subcommittee that Whitfield leads is slated to vote on the bill Thursday.
While the two GOP lawmakers have cited gasoline prices before, it has been in a broader context that alleges EPA rules will harm manufacturers and affect a range of consumer costs.
For instance they alleged EPA climate rules will make “gasoline, electricity, fertilizer, and groceries” costlier when floating a draft of the measure in early February.
