WASHINGTON— U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), led their colleagues in a letter of support to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin for his efforts to repeal the unachievable standards and illegal power plant regulations proposed through the Biden-Harris Clean Power Plan 2.0.

In the letter, the senators detail how Clean Power Plan 2.0 threatens American energy reliability through policy-driven power plant retirements. They went on to explain how the repeal of this rule is critical for the success of American energy providers to continue ensuring communities and businesses can access utilities and affordable, reliable energy.

Additionally, the senators noted that the Biden-Harris regulations exceeded EPA’s authority and ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA while agreeing the agency’s proposed repeal is reasonable and justified.

“Our nation currently needs more reliable and affordable electricity to power our economy, maintain our economic competitiveness, and win the Artificial Intelligence race. The current regulations – that your proposal will repeal – put us at risk by exacerbating electric reliability threats and spiking energy costs borne by American families and businesses,” the senators wrote.

“The repeal of these standards is the first step on a path to improved energy affordability and securing the reliability of our electric grid. We appreciate your leadership to restore American energy dominance and we request the EPA expeditiously finalize the proposed rule as a central effort to achieve that goal,” the lawmakers concluded. 

All Republican members of the EPW committee joined Boozman and Capito’s letter to Administrator Zeldin including Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), John Curtis (R-UT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jon Husted (R-OH). 

Full text of the letter is available here.