Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee introduced legislation Thursday that would prevent EPA from issuing rules that move away from energy sources such as oil and coal and toward electric vehicles and clean energy.
The bill from the Utah senator and his Republican colleagues follows years of Republican and industry complaints of EPA overreach under Democratic presidents seeking to use the Clean Air Act on greenhouse gases.
“The EPA has overstepped its authority as far as possible to put America’s energy producers in a chokehold,” Lee said in a statement. He went on to criticize former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama: “They’ve exploited any power they can grab to push Biden and Obama’s climate psychosis at the expense of our energy security.”
The End EPA Abuse Act would bar the agency from issuing any regulation that “can reasonably be determined” to “restrict or in effect restrict” any type of vehicle or engine, especially internal combustion engines. The prohibition would also apply to waivers that could be granted to California.
