Pro-Tem's Resolution Challenges EPA Regs

Recent efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to mandate new air quality regulations in Oklahoma will kill jobs and competitiveness if not aggressively challenged at every turn, according to Senate President Pro-Tempore Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa.

SCR 13, which Bingman authored with Representative John Trebilcock, R-Broken Arrow, was approved by the senate on Wednesday. It asks congress to prohibit the EPA "by any means necessary" from regulating green house gas emissions. "Let me state emphatically that we want to protect and maintain our clean air and environmental health," said Bingman, "but EPA regulations are a train wreck of overlapping requirements that will cause more harm than good."

SCR 13 calls on congress to prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions including, if necessary, de-funding EPA greenhouse gas regulatory activities. Additionally, it asks that a moratorium be placed on new regulations.

"At this time the main goal of government should be to avoid worthless regulations that harm job growth and promote economic recovery, not create new regulations that are designed to replace unpopular Cap and Trade legislation," stated Bingman.

SCR 13 requires the EPA to provide a cost-benefit analysis to specify how much the regulations are affecting America's economy and overall economic competitiveness.

"Oklahoma's economy is doing well in this recession but it is still fragile and I cannot stand by while the federal government imposes harmful regulations on the state that will hurt its citizens."