The U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 2042, the Ratepayer Protection Act. Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) released the following statement following passage of the bill:
“Energy is a key building block for a healthy economy, which is important to improving the lives of hardworking American families. The EPA’s unprecedented rule for existing power plants is nothing more than a back door cap and tax regulation that will have profound impacts on all sectors of our economy and threaten grid reliability. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas estimates that this plan would increase costs for Texans 5 to 20 percent by 2020. As opposed to increasing rates for consumers, the EPA should be shifting its focus towards ensuring access to affordable energy.
“The direct impact of the so-called Clean Power Plan will be felt by American families and businesses. The plan will not produce any meaningful impact on U.S. or global climate. The Ratepayer Protection Act provides commonsense solutions to protect hardworking Americans from higher electricity prices, reduced reliability and other harmful impacts of EPA’s proposed regulation. As a cosponsor of the Ratepayer Protection Act, I was pleased to see it pass the House with bipartisan support. It is important that we continue to protect American households and businesses from higher electricity rates and the EPA’s attempts to micromanage each state’s electricity generation, transmission, distribution and use.”
Congressman Bill Flores represents the 17th District of Texas and is an entrepreneur, former energy executive, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) and member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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