Link to Press Release
Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today filed a number of amendments to S. 2204 that would lower gas and electricity costs for American families by reining in the Obama administration's war on affordable energy and significantly increasing American energy production. These amendments achieve the opposite of President Obama's failed energy policies, which are designed to restrict domestic energy production severely and cause electricity and gas prices to skyrocket.
"Today I am pleased to introduce a number of common-sense amendments that will help unleash American energy production," Senator Inhofe said. "By increasing access to traditional American energy resources such as oil, gas and coal, and reining in the extreme far-left regulatory agenda now being imposed by the Obama EPA, we can alleviate the pain at the pump and bring down electricity prices.
"President Obama and the Democratic Party don't have answers to the skyrocketing gas prices that are causing so much pain across the country. That's because higher energy costs are exactly what they want. The far-left continues to push a global warming agenda that relies on raising the price on traditional energy because that's the only way they can force Americans into their unaffordable green economy. Meanwhile, they continue to demonize American energy producers who are trying to develop our vast resources so that we can have affordable energy to power this economy. But when you don't have answers, and your policies are designed to make energy prices 'necessarily skyrocket,' you find someone else to blame.
"The debate over gas prices is a defining difference between Senate Republicans and Democrats. While many on the Democratic side claim they want to rein in the Obama-EPA, they have failed to join Senate Republicans on numerous measures that would do just that. How much longer can Senate Democrats choose to stand with the far-left and President Obama instead of their constituents who feel the brunt of these policies back home?"
Senator Inhofe filed the following amendments today:
Inhofe-Upton Energy Tax Prevention Act, Amendment 1967
Today, as the Obama EPA rolls out greenhouse gas regulations, Senator Inhofe is introducing as an amendment the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which will stop EPA's back-door cap-and-trade agenda from taking effect. It protects American families from the Obama administration's plan to impose skyrocketing gas and electricity costs; it prevents the EPA from destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs in America's manufacturing sector; and puts Congress - not unelected bureaucrats - in charge of our nation's climate policies, all while ensuring that the health provisions of the Clean Air Act remain intact.
Gasoline Regulations Act of 2012, Amendment 1963
This legislation, which mirrors Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield's bill in the House, establishes and requires an interagency committee to conduct a cumulative impact analysis on certain EPA rules and actions that affect the price of gasoline and diesel fuel. These rules and actions include: Tier 3 Gas Standards, New Source Performance Standards for Refineries, RFS2, Ozone Standards as well as GHG permitting actions. This legislation would also put a pause on implementing Tier 3 Gas Standards, NSPS as well as Ozone Standards until at least six months after the final report is submitted so that consumers would be protected from a regulatory train wreck that promises to tax them at the pump.
American Jobs and Domestic Energy Production Act, Amendment 1974
This amendment makes literally billions of barrels of oil and gas available that are currently being held back by the Obama administration. It allows drilling in ANWR - the north slope of Alaska. It opens up all of the Outer Continental Shelf, and it allows oil shale development in the Mountain West. Lastly, it reserves the right to regulate hydraulic fracturing to the states so the federal government cannot shut it down. While the Democrats want to address gas prices by raising taxes, this legislation actually solves the problem by unlocking supply, which will result in lower prices, faster economic growth, and - consequently - more tax revenue.
