Click here or on the image above to watch Senator Capito’s floor speech.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), delivered remarks on the Senate floor regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent rules and regulations meant to eliminate coal power generation and block new natural gas power plants from coming online in the future.

Earlier today, Senator Capito questioned EPA Administrator Michael Regan on the economically crippling, unrealistic regulations that EPA has issued, and last month pledged to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval to overturn the emissions rules targeting existing coal plants and new gas plants.

Senator Capito’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are included below:

“Mr/Madame President —

“Here they go again. The Environmental Protection Agency is back with a barrage of rules and regulations meant to accomplish two main goals: kill coal and natural gas once and for all.

“And in doing so, appease the climate activists who the president feels he needs to keep happy in an election year. So, what just happened?

“In the last two weeks, the Biden EPA finalized a slate of four policies as part of its latest, punishing, climate crusade: The first is the Clean Power Plan 2.0 that will eliminate coal power generation and block new natural gas plants from coming online in the future.

“The second is the updated Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule, that is designed to put coal plants out west out of business, by saddling them with unrealistic emissions requirements.

“The third is the Coal Combustion Residuals Rule, and the fourth is the Effluent Limitations Guidelines for coal plants, which both impose unattainable requirements for disposing and discharging waste at these plants. The ELGs will orphan millions in investments made just in the last four years.

“Again, the Biden administration isn’t being shy about the desired end game here:

These rules are meant to put coal and natural gas employees out of work and shutter these baseload power plants once and for all.

“But as I alluded to earlier, they’ve tried this before.

“We all remember when the Obama administration attempted to implement a similar – overreaching set of mandates – and so does the Supreme Court. So why try again? Why get rejected by the highest court in the land and then come back with the same playbook?

“It sadly all comes back to the same two overall goals: close down reliable American power plants and try to prop up disappointing poll numbers. The administration also doesn’t care whether these regulations are struck down in the end.

“They are betting that by threatening the electricity sector with rule after rule, investment will be forced away from reliable, baseload power, and toward the energy sources of their choice.

“Beyond those four rules recently announced, the EPA has also rolled out an electric vehicles mandate, an air rule meant to halt manufacturing projects, and a Federal Plan that has already suffered legal blows in court because it dictates to states how to address their own unique environmental concerns.

“But the EPA’s broader strategy that costs hundreds of billions of dollars and purposefully violates legal constraints set by the Supreme Court is creating a massive problem that every member of the Biden administration just can’t seem to see, or perhaps it’s one they choose to ignore.

“All of President Biden’s backwards environmental regulations, impacting everything from power plants to the kinds of cars we drive, are working against each other and putting us on a path to an energy crisis.

“They are driving up demand for electricity, straining a grid that even the administration projects will see explosive demand in the coming years, while simultaneously cutting off the electricity supply from baseload power needed to sustain that grid.

“It would be like a parent telling their child they have to practice for hours and hours every day to make their high school baseball team, but in the same breath, informing the kid that they’ve decided to throw their glove, bat, and bag of baseballs in the garbage. Sorry. Good luck. And go get ‘em.

“The Biden administration and many on the left desperately need a reality check, and here it is: The inconvenient truth is that coal and natural gas are the backbone of America’s current electric grid.

“You all know I am a huge advocate for nuclear energy, and we want to see it grow in the years to come. I want energy sources of all kinds to continue playing an increased role in our energy mix, and I believe with innovation, and time, they absolutely will.

“But in 2023, the reality is roughly 60% of electricity generation in the United States came from the two sources of power the Biden administration is trying to close off forever. Not only do these attacks on coal and gas-fired power plants make no sense – they pose serious threats to our grid reliability. And experts have sounded the alarm.

“Public utility commissioners, nonpartisan grid operators from blue and red states, he Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the nonprofit North American Electric Reliability Corporation all shouted from the rooftops about the ways the Biden administration’s proposed Clean Power Plan 2.0 and other rules would jeopardize the reliability of the electric grid.

“‘Undermine reliability,’ ‘materially and adversely impact electric reliability,’ ‘potentially catastrophic reliability problems,’ are just a few of the warning signs we heard about the EPA’s plan.

“The finalized rules announced by the EPA largely brush aside these concerns and press ahead to close down major sources of baseload power with no plan, none, to replace it. So, let’s take a step back and look at these rules and regulations from the outside.

“The results of the EPA’s latest actions mean: Americans will lose their jobs. American families and small businesses will have to pay more for their electricity at a time when Bidenomics is already causing inflation to rise. America’s entire electric grid will be in jeopardy. And with an inexplicable ban on new natural gas exports still in place, America’s allies will have to go to Russia and Iran for energy help.

“It’s plain to see, President Biden’s entire energy and environmental strategy actually hurts America, and helps our adversaries. So, as the Biden administration attempts to put the final nail in the coffin of America’s baseload power sources, remember their objectives:

“To them, it is about accomplishing a decades-long goal of closing down coal and gas plants and hoping it’s enough to get over the finish line in an election year.

“They’ve shown they have no regard for the Supreme Court. No regard for workers in West Virginia. And no regard for the truth about what happens when you undermine our nation’s electric grid.

“The Biden administration has chosen climate activists over the well-being of America. And they’ve chosen to shut the lights off for the rest of us without as much as a ‘good luck.’

“Thank you, and I yield the floor.”

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