Utah currently receives approximately 95 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants, and plans are in place to build more.  I stand alongside Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma in opposition to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule (also commonly called the Utility MACT rule) devised by the Environmental Protection Agency.

This unnecessary and expensive regulation will cost the electric power sector approximately $100 billion, more than all other EPA air rules combined.  The National Economic Research Associates found that the MATS rule would kill as many as 215,000 jobs by 2015. Thus far, 169 coal-fuel electric generating units located across 21 states have had to be prematurely retired due to the threats posed by MATS and other EPA regulations.  Over 27,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity will be retired within the next three years, raising concerns about electric reliability at the local level. 

EPA figures show that more than 99.99 percent of quantified health benefits attributed to the MATS rule are due to reductions in fine particles, not reductions in mercury emissions. The EPA already regulates fine particles under other parts of the Clean Air Act.  Additionally, coal-fueled power plants have already reduced mercury emissions by 60 percent without the MATS rule.

Excessive regulation of the power sector forces coal plants to shut down prematurely which will significantly raise energy prices for Americans. MATS and other EPA regulations increase operation costs for plants, drive up prices for consumers, and kill thousands of jobs. That’s why we need regulation reform, such as the REINS Act, to ensure that all major regulations that significantly affect our economy go through the proper legislative channels before they are made official policy. 

Until then, I firmly support S. J. Res. 37, and stand with a growing bipartisan group of Senators, private sector unions, and business interests who believe we can do better than imposing these kinds of regulations on the American people.