Hearing of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, Energy and Commerce Committee
Statement by Congressman Edward J. Markey
(as prepared for delivery)
February 9, 2011
“The bill we are considering today repeals the scientific finding that global warming pollution is dangerous. It ties EPA’s hands and prevents it from moving forward with any regulations to reduce global warming pollution. It even prevents EPA from thinking about global warming pollution as part of its other duties under the Clean Air Act.
“In George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother’s faceless minions at the Ministry of Truth dispose of politically inconvenient facts by pitching them down a Memory Hole. Today, Big Oil and Big Coal have been working with the Republican Thought Police to comb through each and every reference to global warming pollution in the Clean Air Act and then disappear them, sending scientific consensus down the Memory Hole at the expense of public health and welfare.
“But what this bill also does is bar EPA from doing anything further to reduce oil use from cars, trucks, planes, boats or any other source. The legislation might even nullify the progress you’ve already made over at the EPA in reducing demand for oil. The Republican bill could result in an increase in our oil dependence of more than 5 million barrels per day by 2030 – more than we currently import from OPEC.
“So that’s what we are doing today.
“Tomorrow, in this very Subcommittee, we are holding a hearing on the impact of Middle East unrest and its impact on U.S. energy prices.
“This is like holding a hearing on repealing FDA’s authority to regulate tobacco, and then holding a hearing the very next day on the dangers of smoking. Or like holding a hearing on a bill that says only Christina Aguilera can sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, then holding a hearing the next day on the dangers of not singing the national anthem correctly.
“5 million barrels of oil a day. At $90 dollars a barrel, that’s $164 billion dollars a year taken from Americans’ pockets and sent directly to OPEC. We need bold action if we truly want to tell the Middle Eastern oil Ssheiks that we don’t need their oil any more than we need their sand.
“Unfortunately, instead of bold action, the Republicans have offered us unilateral disarmament.
“The car and light truck rules that are already finalized and the future standards we’re currently working on could reduce demand for as much as 5 million barrels of oil a day by 2030 – more than we currently import from OPEC.
“By repealing the endangerment finding, Republicans are endangering the current standards by opening up a litigation loophole in the current standards to reduce oil use in cars and light trucks. And Republicans are barring EPA from moving forward with any new standards at all.
“So basically what we have here is legislation that hands regulatory relief to oilmen from Oklahoma and a blank check to OPEC, along with a noose with which they can increase their stranglehold on American blood, treasure and livelihoods.”
Rep. Markey speaks at the Hearing of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, Energy and Commerce Committee,Feb 9, 2011.
Hon Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, testifies at hearing.
