300 Natural Resources & Environment:Eliminate Nine Climate Programs

Rationale:

When the Clean Air Act (CAA) was passed, Congress never intended or envisioned that CO₂, an invisible and odorless gas required for life, would be covered under the law. The potential economic implications of CO₂ regulation are staggering, and its effect on everyday life could be unprecedented without offering any measurable environmental benefit. For these reasons, Congress, and not the EPA or any other federal agencies, should decide whether carbon dioxide should be regulated or considered in environmental permit reviews. Congress should expressly prohibit the regulation of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases, deny funding of agency efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, and repeal any agency actions to date that serve either directly or indirectly to develop CO₂ regulations, such as the EPA’s endangerment finding.

The EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations will drive up energy prices for families and businesses. It will cost more to heat, cool, and light homes, and to cook meals. These higher energy prices will also have ripple effects throughout the economy. As energy prices increase, the cost of making products rises. Higher operating costs for businesses will be reflected in higher prices for consumers. As prices rise, consumers buy less, and companies are forced to shed employees, close entirely, or relocate to other countries where the cost of doing business is lower. The result is fewer opportunities for American workers, lower incomes, less economic growth, and higher unemployment.

While carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions may have contributed in some capacity to climate variations, the available climate data simply do not indicate that the earth is heading toward catastrophic warming with dire consequences for human health and public welfare, nor do the data indicate that the dominant driving force behind climate change is human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Such a view does nothing to account for the shortcomings of climate models that are the underlying foundation for carbon policies and regulations. While some climate models have forecast such a catastrophe, data of observed climate reality has shown these models, and the assumptions on which they are built, to be incorrect. There is simply no need for the EPA to implement costly accounting programs and egregious greenhouse gas regulations that will choke off American energy use.

Congress should eliminate funding for:

1. Regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles (as well as non-road equipment, locomotives, aircraft, and transportation fuels)
2. Regulation of CO₂ emissions from power plants and all sources
3. Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program
4. Global Methane Initiative
5. Climate Resilience Fund
6. Climate Resilience Evaluation Awareness Tool
7. Green Infrastructure Program
8. Climate Ready Water Utilities Initiative
9. Climate research funding for the Office of Research and Development