National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn issued these comments today following passage of House disapproval resolutions that signify the American people’s rejection of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan presented at the COP 21 this week:
“Both houses of Congress have now sent climate negotiators and the administration a clear message: the American people do not support the president’s plan to raise their energy bills. Behind President Obama’s lofty rhetoric in Paris yesterday is the bill that he’s leaving with U.S. consumers — $214 billion in additional electricity costs plus another $64 billion to replace the power plants forcibly retired by his so-called Clean Power Plan.
“There is a stunning lack of reciprocity in the president’s negotiating posture in Paris: while he has dictated binding targets on our states, he is merely asking nations for non-binding expressions of intent to do something at some point in the future. As Congress proved today, Americans are unwilling to spend substantial sums on a policy that achieves no discernable benefit other than for his legacy.”