The Energy Tax Prevention Act (H.R. 910)

On April 7, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from imposing a national energy tax in the form of carbon emission regulations. The legislation passed the house by a vote of 255 to 172. 

The Energy Tax Prevention Act will prohibit the EPA from pursuing its climate change agenda for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act; this will save countless jobs and protect our economy from the tens of billions of dollars such a regulatory tax would cost. 

The sponsors of the bill are Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN), Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-WV), and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-KY).

The EPA’s Regulatory Tax Plan: Costs Jobs, Raises Prices

The Environmental Protection Agency has been aggressively pursuing a cap-and-trade national energy tax through both legislation and regulation.

After cap-and-trade failed in Congress, the EPA accelerated its efforts to regulate this controversial policy through a series of new rules that could eventually cover: 260,000 office buildings; 150,000 warehouses; 92,000 health-care facilities; 71,000 hotels and motels; 51,000 food-service facilities; 37,000 churches; and 17,000 farms.

Regulating, capping, and taxing greenhouse gases – primarily the carbon dioxide emissions that come from coal, oil, and natural gas – will increase the cost of everything from gasoline to household utilities to groceries. 

Increasing the price of energy and preventing America from using our own natural resources will make America less competitive by stifling job creation.

A national energy tax will ship American jobs overseas to countries that recognize stable, affordable energy policies are vital for economic growth.

The Energy Tax Prevention Act: What it WILL Do

The Energy Tax Prevention Act will prohibit EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air act, and repeal the steps the agency has already taken to do so.

It is narrowly drawn to focus only on greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. EPA’s authority to monitor and regulate pollutants remains intact.

The Energy Tax Prevention Act clarifies that the Clean Air Act is not a vehicle for a regulatory tax regime. The decision about whether and how to regulate will be made by Congress – not unelected bureaucrats.

The Energy Tax Prevention Act: What it WILL NOT Do

The Energy Tax Prevention Act will not simply delay the national energy tax; it will permanently prevent such a tax from being imposed by regulation under the Clean Air Act.

• Delaying the rules is better than allowing them to take effect, but ultimately, it does not solve the problem created by these regulations. In fact, the continued threat of a national energy tax will chill new investment, job creation, and economic growth.

It will not interfere with EPA’s longstanding authority to protect the environment. This narrowly drawn proposal will simply clarify that the Clean Air Act was never designed for regulating greenhouse gas emissions – removing an authority EPA never really had.

It will not weaken the Clean Air Act or the regulation of air pollution that increases asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, respiratory diseases, and lung cancer.

• The Clean Air Act has reduced air pollution and its provisions to reduce air pollutants are preserved under the Energy Tax Prevention Act.

The Energy Tax Prevention Act will not change existing policies relating to vehicle standards, renewable fuel standards, GHG emissions reporting for utilities, or implementation of the Montreal Protocol for protection of the stratospheric ozone layer.