In a letter to delivered to Congress this week, the Center for Individual Freedom ("CFIF") joined with 15 other conservative and free market groups to urge opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s ("EPA") new greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions regulation for coal power plants.

The EPA’s new regulation will effectively ban construction of new coal-fired power plants.  As the letter emphasizes, "Congress never authorized the EPA to ban the construction of coal-fired power plants; the EPA is appropriating powers never bestowed to it.

"The result of the EPA’s power grab will be increased energy prices and fewer jobs as American companies and families are forced to pay higher electricity bills."

Read the full letter below or download a PDF copy here.

July 16, 2012

Dear Representative:
 
On behalf of the millions of members and followers of our organizations, we urge you to oppose the EPA’s new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions regulation for coal power plants.
 
Requiring new fossil-fuel plants to achieve emissions standards that only natural gas power plants can meet, the EPA’s proposal will effectively ban construction of new coal-fired power plants. While hundreds of thousands of Americans are directly and indirectly employed by the coal industry, tens of millions of Americans enjoy the affordable and reliable energy produced by coal-fired power plants.
 
Twisting the Clean Air Act to achieve its partisan ends, Obama’s EPA is utilizing the arcane law in ways its authors never intended. Congress never authorized the EPA to ban the construction of coal-fired power plants; the EPA is appropriating powers never bestowed to it.
 
The result of the EPA’s power grab will be increased energy prices and fewer jobs as American companies and families are forced to pay higher electricity bills.
 
That cheap coal power is in jeopardy should come as no surprise. In 2008, then Candidate Obama publicized his true intentions saying that, “if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them.” Indeed, the EPA’s new GHG rule is the culmination of Obama’s promise “to make electricity rates skyrocket” under his Administration.
 
Distorting America’s energy market by prohibiting the construction of coal power plants will unnecessarily cause the cost of electricity to increase for nearly every American. It is for these reasons we urge you to oppose the EPA’s new GHG regulation.
 
Sincerely,

Americans for Tax Reform                                                                      
Let Freedom Ring
RightMarch.com
Less Government
Liberty Guard
FreedomWorks
American Commitment
Tea Party WDC
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
National Center for Public Policy Research
Small Business & Entrepreneurship council
Frontiers of Freedom
Center for Individual Freedom
Americans for Prosperity
Institute for Liberty
Taxpayer Protection Alliance