Gov. Perry Supports Congressional Efforts to Block Misguided EPA Endangerment Findings

Gov. Rick Perry today sent a letter to members of Congress, as did many governors around the country, commending their efforts to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) endangerment findings through a disapproval resolution. In his letter, Gov. Perry also emphasized recent legal action taken by State of Texas, including a Petition for Review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, as well as a Petition for Reconsideration with the EPA administrator challenging the agency’s attempt to regulate carbon dioxide and other gases under the Clean Air Act.

“The EPAs misguided plan paints a big target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy producers and the hundreds of thousands of Texans they employ,” Gov. Perry said in his letter. “Congress has a unique opportunity to prevent one-size-fits-all mandates from being imposed by unelected federal bureaucrats and instead recognize the rights of states to tailor economic and environmental policies in the manner that are in the best interest of their citizens.”

Texas has a record of working proactively to protect natural resources and improve environmental quality. We have reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 46 percent, cut ozone levels by 22 percent and reduced carbon dioxide emissions more than nearly every other state, all without government mandates or extravagant fines. Rather than making traditional energy sources more expensive, Texas leaders continue to support making alternative energy technologies less expensive, thereby encouraging widespread commercial use and removing barriers to innovation and competition.

“Texas has already created our own blueprint for incentivizing renewable energy without killing jobs in other industries or hiking up energy costs, and mandates from Washington will only hinder our progress,” Gov. Perry noted in the letter.

Diversifying the state’s energy portfolio continues to be a priority for Gov. Perry. Texas has installed more wind power than any other state and all but four countries, and is developing new transmission lines that will move more than 18,000 megawatts across the state. Texas has also attracted more than 9,000 megawatts of energy from the development of next-generation nuclear power plants. The state is also looking to add new clean coal plants that will capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions, or use carbon dioxide to increase production from Texas oil fields.

To view the governor’s letter, please click the link below.