WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue issued the following statement today on President Trump’s Energy Independence executive order:
“America got good news today when President Trump took bold steps to make regulatory relief and energy security a top priority. American energy resources give us a competitive advantage in the global economy, and the president’s effort to capitalize on those resources is vital to stimulating economic growth. These executive actions are a welcome departure from the previous administration’s strategy of making energy more expensive through costly, job-killing regulations that choked our economy.
“The U.S. Chamber has long argued that EPA’s power plant regulations are not only unlawful, they are a bad deal for American families and businesses. Similarly, the Obama administration’s NEPA guidance threatened to obstruct our ability to build badly needed infrastructure of all kinds, and the moratorium on coal leasing exemplified the reckless hostility toward America’s domestic energy resources.
“There is every reason to believe that the federal government will no longer seek to punish American consumers and businesses for using the energy resources that fuel our economy. It is clear that the new administration will not be in the business of picking winners and losers in America’s energy portfolio. We look forward to engaging in the next steps of this process to ensure that economic growth from energy investment and environmental stewardship are no longer viewed as mutually exclusive.”
Background on the U.S. Chamber’s Litigation on the EPA Power Plant Regulations:
In total, more than 160 challengers filed suit against EPA to stop the so-called Clean Power Plan, including 27 states, a U.S. Chamber-led business coalition, and a host of other industry, labor, and consumer groups. In addition, 166 business organizations from 40 states filed an amicus briefin support of the lawsuit, illustrating that America’s job creators are united in their concern that the power plant rule threatens to drive up electricity rates and hurt their competitiveness. The Supreme Court agreed, and at the request of the U.S. Chamber and many others issued a historic stay of the Obama administration’s unprecedented rule in February 2016.
For more information on the U.S. Chamber’s legal challenge to the power plant regulations, click here.
