Statement of Senator Jim Jeffords, I-Vt.
On Resolution of Disapproval
Bush Administration Mercury Rule Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague from Vermont, the Senators from Maine and many other Senators in this bipartisan effort to oppose the Administration’s mishandling of the Clean Air Act. That is what our resolution of disapproval is about. We are here because the Bush Administration’s mercury rule violates the Clean Air Act. The rule is plainly illegal. It is unwise. And it is definitely unhealthy for Americans living downwind of coal-fired power plants, especially mothers and their soon-to-be born children. The Administration, with a simple wave of its hands, has used the rule to delay compliance with mercury control requirements by a decade longer than the law allows. Our resolution of disapproval is simple enough for even the biggest energy company and the Administration to understand. We reject this abuse of the Clean Air Act and we demand that they follow the law of the land. The law says: Each and every power plant unit that emits mercury and other toxic air pollutants must take action to reduce those emissions by using maximum achievable control technology, or MACT. The Administration could have gone through the appropriate statutory process to de-list and exempt those power plants from regulation. But that’s not what they did. Instead, they made up a whole new deregulatory scheme to help out the big energy companies. But, the Act does not provide them with that authority. They don’t have the luxury of ignoring the laws that regular Americans must follow and that Congress wrote to protect the public’s health and the environment. This Administration is not above the law. The EPA is allowed to set the MACT standard after considering cost and any non-air quality health and environmental impacts and energy requirements. They could have done that. But, instead, the Administration chose to violate a settlement agreement. They shut down an advisory commission because they didn’t like getting scientifically credible answers on mercury controls and costs. The process used to create this rule was flawed, and was intended to delay and obstruct any mercury control requirements whatsoever. In the end, the Administration almost wholly adopted the utility industry’s proposal on how to regulate mercury emissions. If this isn’t the proverbial fox watching the chicken coop, what is? This is not the way the law works in America. I urge my colleagues and everyone listening to support our resolution of disapproval, and to support this motion to proceed. We deserve a fair up-or-down vote on the Administration’s rule that illegally exempts big energy companies from having to reduce toxic air pollution wherever it is emitted. I yield the floor. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague from Vermont, the Senators from Maine and many other Senators in this bipartisan effort to oppose the Administration’s mishandling of the Clean Air Act. That is what our resolution of disapproval is about. We are here because the Bush Administration’s mercury rule violates the Clean Air Act. The rule is plainly illegal. It is unwise. And it is definitely unhealthy for Americans living downwind of coal-fired power plants, especially mothers and their soon-to-be born children. The Administration, with a simple wave of its hands, has used the rule to delay compliance with mercury control requirements by a decade longer than the law allows. Our resolution of disapproval is simple enough for even the biggest energy company and the Administration to understand. We reject this abuse of the Clean Air Act and we demand that they follow the law of the land. The law says: Each and every power plant unit that emits mercury and other toxic air pollutants must take action to reduce those emissions by using maximum achievable control technology, or MACT. The Administration could have gone through the appropriate statutory process to de-list and exempt those power plants from regulation. But that’s not what they did. Instead, they made up a whole new deregulatory scheme to help out the big energy companies. But, the Act does not provide them with that authority. They don’t have the luxury of ignoring the laws that regular Americans must follow and that Congress wrote to protect the public’s health and the environment. This Administration is not above the law. The EPA is allowed to set the MACT standard after considering cost and any non-air quality health and environmental impacts and energy requirements. They could have done that. But, instead, the Administration chose to violate a settlement agreement. They shut down an advisory commission because they didn’t like getting scientifically credible answers on mercury controls and costs. The process used to create this rule was flawed, and was intended to delay and obstruct any mercury control requirements whatsoever. In the end, the Administration almost wholly adopted the utility industry’s proposal on how to regulate mercury emissions. If this isn’t the proverbial fox watching the chicken coop, what is? This is not the way the law works in America. I urge my colleagues and everyone listening to support our resolution of disapproval, and to support this motion to proceed. We deserve a fair up-or-down vote on the Administration’s rule that illegally exempts big energy companies from having to reduce toxic air pollution wherever it is emitted. I yield the floor.