Hudson, Lankford Move to Stop Flawed Social Cost of Carbon from Driving Energy Regulations July 22, 2022

Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) was joined by 5 Members of the U.S. House to introduce the Transparency and Honesty in Energy Regulations Act, a bill to prohibit the federal government from using the flawed social cost of carbon, social cost of methane, social cost of nitrous oxide, or the social cost of any other greenhouse gas metrics in the rulemaking process. U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.

"The Transparency and Honesty in Energy Regulations Act takes important steps to halt the use of flawed metrics to justify overreaching government regulations," said Hudson. "American industries and job-creators need regulatory certainty, not biased estimates that fail to comply with key rulemaking guidance. I appreciate Senator Lankford's leadership on this issue and look forward to working with my House colleagues on this important bill."

"Oklahomans want clean air, land, and water. But the "social cost of carbon' was created without transparency for the public or the industries it impacts. It has no basis in reality," said Lankford. "The social cost of carbon has a big impact on every Oklahoma family and their pocketbook since it is used to justify many parts of Democrats' illegitimate, progressive climate-change scheme that increases the cost of gasoline, electricity, and other goods. The Supreme Court recently determined in West Virginia v. EPA that the EPA may not cap greenhouse gas emissions because Congress did not provide the agency with that authority. In the same way, the social cost of carbon metric is clearly outside the scope of EPA's regulatory authority, and our bill ensures they stop using it."

Hudson was joined in introducing the bill by Reps. David McKinley (R-WV), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Buddy Carter (R-GA), Greg Steube (R-FL), and Byron Donalds (R-FL). Lankford was joined by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tom Cotton (R-AR), John Hoeven (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Cornyn (R-TX), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), and Jim Risch (R-ID).

Source