Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

Texas House Bill HCR66 Compare Versions

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1	1	82R4524 BPG-F
2	2	By: Hancock, et al. H.C.R. No. 66
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5	5	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, The business climate in Texas has been consistently
7	7	ranked as the best in the United States, and the state's economy
8	8	regularly outpaces the rest of the nation; and
9	9	WHEREAS, Texas produces approximately 60 percent of all
10	10	chemicals manufactured in the United States, as well as 30 percent
11	11	of the nation's natural gas and 20 percent of its oil; in addition,
12	12	the state leads the nation in overall electricity production, and
13	13	its competitive wholesale power market is among the most robust and
14	14	demand-responsive in the country; and
15	15	WHEREAS, The manufacturing sector contributes $96 billion
16	16	annually to the Texas economy and employs more than one million
17	17	Texans at some of the highest salaries in the state; the continued
18	18	economic health of the state is dependent on this vital sector, and
19	19	Texas is competing globally to protect existing business investment
20	20	and attract new jobs; and
21	21	WHEREAS, Texas has not been immune to the global economic
22	22	recession; over the past two years, some manufacturers have shut
23	23	down and there have been significant job losses; yet in spite of
24	24	this challenging business climate, the Environmental Protection
25	25	Agency has moved forward with the regulation of greenhouse gas
26	26	emissions from stationary sources such as refineries, chemical
27	27	plants, power plants, and other commercial establishments; and
28	28	WHEREAS, The EPA claims that greenhouse gas emissions are air
29	29	pollutants under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, but that act
30	30	was designed to regulate conventional pollutants, such as ozone and
31	31	particulate matter, that create local air quality problems, and not
32	32	unconventional pollutants, such as greenhouse gases, which are
33	33	found in essentially equal concentrations around the globe; in
34	34	formulating its plan to regulate greenhouse gases, the EPA failed
35	35	to identify cost-effective technology to meet the demands of such
36	36	regulation and instead invoked the legal doctrine of "absurd
37	37	results," essentially admitting that implementing the new rules
38	38	would overwhelm the administrative capabilities of state
39	39	permitting authorities and the agency itself; and
40	40	WHEREAS, Congress and the scientific community continue to
41	41	engage in vigorous, legitimate, and substantive debate regarding
42	42	the regulation of greenhouse gases; meanwhile, the EPA has acted on
43	43	its own to institute a backdoor regulatory regime, an abuse of power
44	44	with serious implications; these regulations are projected to cost
45	45	Texas more than 300,000 jobs because of increased energy prices,
46	46	compliance with required greenhouse gas permit conditions, and
47	47	greater competition from overseas manufacturers that have lower
48	48	energy costs; furthermore, as it has communicated to the EPA, the
49	49	State of Texas does not have the legal authority to regulate
50	50	greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources in the manner
51	51	proposed by the EPA; and
52	52	WHEREAS, The EPA's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions
53	53	from stationary sources will prove highly detrimental to the
54	54	manufacturing and energy sectors in an already struggling economy
55	55	and will cause additional job losses that the nation can ill afford;
56	56	now, therefore, be it
57	57	RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
58	58	hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to take
59	59	such actions as are necessary to prevent the Environmental
60	60	Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from
61	61	stationary sources; and, be it further
62	62	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
63	63	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
64	64	the EPA administrator, to the president of the Senate and speaker of
65	65	the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and to
66	66	all the members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request
67	67	that this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
68	68	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.