Bill Text: TX HCR66 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Urging the United States Congress to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases for stationary sources.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 94)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-20 - Received from the House [HCR66 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HCR66-Comm_Sub.html
| 82R4524 BPG-F | ||
| By: Hancock, et al. | H.C.R. No. 66 | |
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| WHEREAS, The business climate in Texas has been consistently | ||
| ranked as the best in the United States, and the state's economy | ||
| regularly outpaces the rest of the nation; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Texas produces approximately 60 percent of all | ||
| chemicals manufactured in the United States, as well as 30 percent | ||
| of the nation's natural gas and 20 percent of its oil; in addition, | ||
| the state leads the nation in overall electricity production, and | ||
| its competitive wholesale power market is among the most robust and | ||
| demand-responsive in the country; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The manufacturing sector contributes $96 billion | ||
| annually to the Texas economy and employs more than one million | ||
| Texans at some of the highest salaries in the state; the continued | ||
| economic health of the state is dependent on this vital sector, and | ||
| Texas is competing globally to protect existing business investment | ||
| and attract new jobs; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Texas has not been immune to the global economic | ||
| recession; over the past two years, some manufacturers have shut | ||
| down and there have been significant job losses; yet in spite of | ||
| this challenging business climate, the Environmental Protection | ||
| Agency has moved forward with the regulation of greenhouse gas | ||
| emissions from stationary sources such as refineries, chemical | ||
| plants, power plants, and other commercial establishments; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The EPA claims that greenhouse gas emissions are air | ||
| pollutants under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, but that act | ||
| was designed to regulate conventional pollutants, such as ozone and | ||
| particulate matter, that create local air quality problems, and not | ||
| unconventional pollutants, such as greenhouse gases, which are | ||
| found in essentially equal concentrations around the globe; in | ||
| formulating its plan to regulate greenhouse gases, the EPA failed | ||
| to identify cost-effective technology to meet the demands of such | ||
| regulation and instead invoked the legal doctrine of "absurd | ||
| results," essentially admitting that implementing the new rules | ||
| would overwhelm the administrative capabilities of state | ||
| permitting authorities and the agency itself; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Congress and the scientific community continue to | ||
| engage in vigorous, legitimate, and substantive debate regarding | ||
| the regulation of greenhouse gases; meanwhile, the EPA has acted on | ||
| its own to institute a backdoor regulatory regime, an abuse of power | ||
| with serious implications; these regulations are projected to cost | ||
| Texas more than 300,000 jobs because of increased energy prices, | ||
| compliance with required greenhouse gas permit conditions, and | ||
| greater competition from overseas manufacturers that have lower | ||
| energy costs; furthermore, as it has communicated to the EPA, the | ||
| State of Texas does not have the legal authority to regulate | ||
| greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources in the manner | ||
| proposed by the EPA; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The EPA's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions | ||
| from stationary sources will prove highly detrimental to the | ||
| manufacturing and energy sectors in an already struggling economy | ||
| and will cause additional job losses that the nation can ill afford; | ||
| now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to take | ||
| such actions as are necessary to prevent the Environmental | ||
| Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from | ||
| stationary sources; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the EPA administrator, to the president of the Senate and speaker of | ||
| the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and to | ||
| all the members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request | ||
| that this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
