Comer & Fallon Probe Biden’s EPA Rule Empowering Climate Activists, Increasing Energy Costs

WASHINGTON —House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas) are continuing their probe into the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed regulatory actions that will increase the cost of energy for Americans and deputize climate activists to monitor energy production sites. In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Reagan, the Republican lawmakers renew their request for documents and information to understand the intent, scope, and cost of the agency’s proposed regulatory actions as well as a staff-level briefing.  

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is conducting oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule and supplemental proposed rule,” wrote the lawmakers. “Under the proposed program, the EPA would authorize third-party entities—which could potentially include activist entities ideologically opposed to the very existence of the oil and natural gas sector—to monitor well sites, centralized production facilities, and compressor stations … The delegation of enforcement duties to third-parties and the EPA’s determination that oversight is an ‘unnecessary task’ raises serious concerns that these ‘Super-Emitter’ determinations will be biased and improper.”

On December 4, 2022, Committee Republicans requested documents and information from the EPA to address concerns of how implementation of the proposed rule would negatively impact consumers and establish emissions oversight programs outside of the legislative intent of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA has not responded to that request and also ignored the request to offer an in-person option for public hearings on the proposed rule. On December 6, 2022, the EPA issued a supplemental proposed rule expanding the scope of the existing framework and proposing a “Super-Emitter Response Program” designed to force emissions compliance within the industry through oversight by third-party entities.

“The EPA’s broad interpretation of the CAA does not align with Congressional intent. Allowing third-party activist groups and environmental organizations the legal authority to function as deputized enforcers of an arbitrary emissions threshold is not prescribed within the CAA statute. Further, the EPA’s own estimates suggest that the Proposed Rule will impose over $14 billion in compliance costs onto producers. Compliance costs, supply chain delays, and claim disputes will increase production costs and inevitably contribute to higher prices paid by consumers at a time of already record-high energy rates,” continued the lawmakers.

Read the letter to EPA Administrator Reagan here.