Kentucky’s senior senator, Mitch McConnell, is cheering a Trump administration plan rolling back Obama-era clean power regulations, calling the environmental rules unfair, ineffective, and unaffordable.
In a Senate floor speech, the majority leader applauded an administration proposal lending states broader authority to regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants, effectively reversing a flagship Obama policy meant to curb greenhouse gases. The senator rehearsed a litany of charges against the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan, saying it offered a "typical story" from that era.
"An innocent-seeming name. A pleasant-sounding objective. But underneath, an intrusive regulatory regime - built not on effective policy, but on far-left ideology," McConnell told colleagues.
The GOP leader warned that allowing the CPP to survive would hurt American competitiveness, saddle the poor with higher energy bills, and do little to improve the environment.
"And this plan was projected to yield double-digit percentage increases in electricity costs in 40 states, including Kentucky," McConnell charged.
Those stats appear to come from a NERA Economic Consulting study commissioned by industry groups that opposed the plan. Critics argue the report inflated the cost of energy efficiency programs and ignored the long-term savings of those programs. While the EPA estimated that by 2030 the benefits would far outweigh the costs of adopting the Clean Power Plan, McConnell touted the Trump reforms – dubbed the Affordable Clean Energy Rule – as a step back from an unworkable policy.
Obama EPA head Gina McCarthy told CNN the ACE rule is "just another step in industry's playbook to dismantle regulations that they find inconvenient but are absolutely essential for our public health and our kids' future."
The move is expected to spark another heated legal battle, with some states likely to challenge the rollback.
