Last week EPA administrator Lisa Jackson testified in front of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power. In the testimony Jackson voiced adamant opposition to the proposed House Energy Tax Prevention Act. The Act would effectively shift certain regulatory powers from the EPA to the legislative branch.
Jackson argued for the effectiveness of the EPA, and its need for regulatory authority.
“I respectfully ask the members of this Committee to keep in mind that EPA’s implementation of the Clean Air Act saves millions of American children and adults from the debilitating and expensive illnesses that occur when smokestacks and tailpipes release unrestricted amounts of harmful pollution into the air we breathe,” said Jackson.
Jackson disagreed with many of the subcommittee’s rationales for eliminating the EPA and Clean Air Act, including the argument that EPA regulations reduce U.S. jobs and increase dependence on foreign oil. Additionally, Jackson offered scientific evidence to support the EPA’s position that human action is affecting the climate.
“Eighteen of America’s leading scientific societies have written that multiple lines of evidence show humans are changing the climate, that contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science, and that ongoing climate change will have broad impacts on society, including the global economy and the environment,” said Jackson. “Chairman Upton’s bill would, in its own words, repeal that scientific finding. Politicians overruling scientists on a scientific question– that would become part of this Committee’s legacy.”
To learn more about Jackson’s testimony to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power click here.