EPW Blog

Inhofe: Senate Will Vote in Next Two Weeks on Effort to Stop Obama War on Coal

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - This evening, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, gave a speech on the Senate floor highlighting a new video of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding admitting that due to EPA's barrage of rules, "if you want to build a coal plant you got a big problem." Administrator Spalding goes on to explain that the decision to kill coal was painful "because you got to remember that if you go to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all those places, you have coal communities who depend on coal. And to say that we just think those communities should just go away, we can't do that. But [Administrator Jackson] had to do what the law and policy suggested. And it's painful. It's painful every step of the way."

Senate Republicans Request Answers on EPA’s Sackett Comments

Link to Press Release Link to Floor Speech: Inhofe Highlights Increasing Concern with EPA Water Overreach Link to Letter Washington, D.C. - Sixteen Senate Republicans joined a letter last week, led by Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, asking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson to clarify statements made by the Director of EPA's Water Enforcement Division, Mark Pollins, who appeared to dismiss the Supreme Court's reining in of the agency in Sackett vs. EPA saying that it will have little effect on how EPA plans to enforce the law going forward. As Inside EPA reported, Pollins said, "What's available after Sackett? Pretty much everything that was available before Sackett. Internally, it's same old, same old."

Global warming alarmism, anyone? The public is cooling to the rhetoric

Link to Op Ed Link to Inhofe EPW Press Blog President Barack Obama recently told Rolling Stone that he plans to make global warming a key part of his re-election campaign, but since American families pay more at the gas pump and more for energy in their homes because of this administration's policies, we have our doubts.

Inhofe: Jaczko Right to Step Down

Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, reacted to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko's resignation this morning, and said that his stepping down makes expediting the re-nomination process of Kristine Svinicki to continue as an NRC Commissioner all the more urgent.

Battle over military green energy efforts heads to the Senate

Inhofe EPW Press Roundup Link to Inhofe EPW Press Blog WATCH: Fox News: White House Putting Green Energy Ahead of Defense: Link to Inhofe Speech: Inhofe Outlines Plan to Stop Obama Imposing Costly Green Agenda on DoD: E&ENEWS: Battle over military energy efforts heads to the Senate: The fight over the military's alternative energy programs shifts to the Senate this week, after a pair of provisions targeting the efforts passed the House in the defense authorization bill Friday. Contending that their reliance on foreign sources of oil poses a national security vulnerability, the military branches have undertaken an ambitious effort to certify their ships and planes on American-made advanced biofuels.

Inhofe Outlines Plan to Stop Obama Imposing Costly Green Agenda on DoD

Washington D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and a Senior Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, took to the Senate floor today to put the spotlight on the far-left global warming agenda that is being imposed on the Department of Defense (DoD) by President Obama, which comes at the same time the Obama administration is forcing devastating cuts to the military budget.

Inhofe urges EPA opponents to lobby their senators on air rule veto

Thursday, May 17, 2012 Posted by Matt Dempsey matt_dempsey@epw.senate.gov In the News... E&E News Inhofe urges EPA opponents to lobby their senators on air rule veto Jean Chemnick, E&E reporter Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 Link to Article Two Democrats have signed on to support a resolution by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) to kill U.S. EPA's new rule for mercury emissions from power plants, the senator said last night.

Dems Have “Real Frustration” With Obama War on Coal

Link to Inhofe EPW Press Blog

Obama War on Coal:

- Cecil Roberts, the president of the United Mine Workers of America, traveled the country for Barack Obama four years ago. He hoped to persuade skeptical working-class white voters in places like southwestern Virginia and southern Ohio to vote for an African-American with an unusual name. Last month, Mr. Roberts went on a West Virginia radio show with a different message. He compared the way Mr. Obama's administration has treated the coal industry to the Navy SEALs' killing of Osama bin Laden. He now says the union might choose not to endorse Mr. Obama and sit out the election instead. Mr. Roberts's transformation suggests larger problems for Mr. Obama in the coal-producing regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, all swing states. The shift is driven largely by anger over Environmental Protection Agency regulations-rules the coal industry says will make it so expensive to operate coal-fired power plants that no more will be built. Mr. Roberts and his union worry the result will be lower demand for coal as electricity-generating capacity shifts away from the fuel. "We've been placed in a horrendous position here," Mr. Roberts said in an interview. "How do you take coal miners' money and say let's use it politically to support someone whose EPA has pretty much said, 'You're done'?" Danger signs for Mr. Obama appeared as recently as Tuesday, when more than 40% of voters in West Virginia's Democratic primary cast their ballots for a felon in prison in Texas rather than for the president. Democrats said the result reflected anger at Mr. Obama's energy policy. WSJ, Trouble in Coal Country for Obama, May 11, 2012

Inhofe cautions against wasting limted DOD funds on green energy

Link to Press Release Inhofe: Panetta Global Warming Remarks Show Need for More Congressional Oversight WASHINGTON, D.C. – During today’s Senate Armed Services Subcommittee hearing on President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) proposed budget for the Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, expressed concerns to U.S. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, USA Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Adm. Mark E. Ferguson III, USN Vice Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., USMC Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, and U.S. Gen. Phillip M. Breedlove, USAF Vice Chief of Staff, regarding the risks of a limited defense budget that drastically reduces troop forces and delays the modernization of weapon systems.

Inhofe Highlights Increasing Concern with EPA Water Overreach

Link to Press Release S. 2245, the Preserve the Waters of the US Act H.R. 4965, Guidance on Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act Watch Inhofe Senate Floor Remarks Washington, DC - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, last night spoke on the Senate floor highlighting increasing bipartisan concerns about the overreach of the Water Office at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the speech, Inhofe said that despite recent Supreme Court rulings that EPA exceeded its authority, news editorials criticizing the EPA for “abuse,” and growing bipartisan Congressional efforts to rein in the agency, EPA officials are saying “Internally, it's same old, same old.”

Inhofe EPA “Crucify” OversightEfforts Continue

Link to Press Release Link to S. 3053 Watch Inhofe Senate Floor Remarks Washington, DC - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today introduced a simple two-page bill that will require that the President appoint the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regional administrators "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." Currently EPA regional directors are appointed by the President without having to undergo Senate confirmation. Senator Inhofe was joined by Senators John Boozman (R-AR), David Vitter (R-LA), James Risch (R-ID), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Robert Wicker (R-MS), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rand Paul (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Cornyn (R-TX), John Hoeven (R-ND), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Patrick Toomey (R-PA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Tom Coburn (R-OK), John Barrasso (R-WY), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), and John Thune (R-SD).

Inhofe: Obama EPA’s Draft Permitting Guidance for Diesel Fuel

Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said that the Obama EPA's Draft Permitting Guidance for Diesel Fuel, released this afternoon, is the second Administration announcement today in a recent barrage of federal efforts designed to stunt hydraulic fracturing by putting more and more authority over the process into the hands of the federal government.

Inhofe: Panetta Global Warming Remarks Show Need for More Congressional Oversight

Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and Senior Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today responded to remarks made this week by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at an event sponsored by a far-left environmental group. Secretary Panetta said, “In the 21st century, reality is that there are environmental threats that constitute threats to our national security” and vowed that the Pentagon will take a leading role in shifting the way the US uses energy.

Obama Administration Regulatory Onslaught against American Energy Production Continues

Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - Today, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, voiced strong concern over the draft rules on hydraulic fracturing for public and Indian lands released by President Obama's Department of Interior. The draft rules would require operators to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations on public and Indian lands, address well-bore integrity, and create a number of new requirements surrounding the use, storage, and disposal of water.

The ‘Crucify Them’ Presidency

Wall Street Journal By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL Al Armendariz, the EPA official who resigned in disgrace this week, was no outlier among the Obama administration's regulators.

Editorial: The EPA is earning a reputation for abuse

Washington Post By Editorial Board Link to Editorial MAYBE AL ARMENDARIZ - until Monday, one of the Environmental Protection Agency's top administrators - didn't mean his comments to sound quite how they did. But they didn't sound good. In a 2010 speech, now circulating online, Mr. Armendariz compared his "philosophy of enforcement" to ancient Roman soldiers' practice of crucifying random victims in recently conquered territory.

“It is not just Armendariz”

Inhofe EPW Press News Roundup WATCH: "In no case have we made a definitive determination that the fracking process has caused chemicals to enter groundwater," Jackson told Fox News on Friday. - EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Friday, April 27

Inhofe: Armendariz’s Resignation Does Not Solve Problem of EPA’s Crucifixion Philosophy

Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, commented on the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz in the wake of the release of a video in which Armendariz is caught on tape admitting that EPA's "general philosophy" is to "crucify" and "make examples" of oil and gas companies so that others are "really easy to manage."

Inhofe Welcomes Introduction of Bipartisan House Legislation to Stop EPA’s Overreach

Link to Press Release Washington, D.C. - Today, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, heralded the bipartisan introduction of H.R. 4965 by Congressman John Mica (R- FL 7), Congressman Nick Rahall (D- WV 3), Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK 3), Congressman Collin Peterson (D – MN 7), and Congressman Bob Gibbs (R- OH 18). H.R. 4965 would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers from finalizing, adopting, implementing, administering or enforcing the proposed "Guidance on Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act."

Politico: Inhofe’s office wants answers on vanishing of ‘crucify’ video

By Bob King Link to Article Sen. Jim Inhofe's staff wants to know more about why YouTube took down a video that showed an EPA regional administrator comparing the agency's enforcement philosophy to Roman crucifixions.