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Statement by the Press Secretary
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 11, 2008

Statement by the Press Secretary

ÿÿWhite House News


Since 2001, the United States has had the second best performance of all
industrialized nations, reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 3 percent
-- through a combination of increased efficiency, improved technologies,
and conservation. The President has committed the U. S. to further
reductions, working in partnership with other major economies in a way that
ensures sustained economic growth and actual global emissions reductions.

In April 2008, the President warned that the Clean Air Act and other
existing statutes were the wrong way to address climate change, as they
were designed to deal with local and regional pollutants, not global
greenhouse gases. At the same time, House Energy and Commerce Committee
Chairman John Dingell said that regulating greenhouse gas emissions under
the Clean Air Act would result in "a glorious mess."

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is releasing an advanced notice
of proposed rulemaking that suggests how the Clean Air Act might be used to
regulate greenhouse gas emissions in our economy. This EPA staff draft
confirms that the President and Chairman Dingell were right. EPA
Administrator Johnson's own statement makes clear he agrees.

As the comments from other Cabinet Secretaries and administration officials
make clear, the onerous command-and-control regulation contemplated in the
EPA staff draft would impose crippling costs on the economy in the form of
a massive hidden tax, without even ensuring that the intended overall
emissions reductions occur.

It's important to make the public aware of the damage this approach would
impose on our economy, so we've asked the EPA to make available for comment
the draft it sent to OMB for interagency review, along with the comments
from other agencies and offices. We not only invite comment from the
American people, but encourage it. During that period, Congress should
consider the consequences of allowing unelected officials to make such
fundamental decisions affecting our economy.

For example, stretching the Clean Air Act beyond its original purpose could
override the fuel economy standards Congress recently adopted. It would
also give EPA unprecedented power affecting anyone who uses or produces
energy -- from stores and manufacturing facilities to power plants,
farmers, even schools, hospitals and apartment buildings. The EPA would
function like a local planning and zoning board, with potentially
devastating effects on our economy. The Administration is confident that
when Congress has made an honest assessment of the costs, benefits and
feasibility of this approach, it will agree that the law must be changed to
prevent regulation of greenhouse gases under laws written for different
purposes.

As the President has explained, there's a right way and a wrong way to deal
with climate change. The wrong way is duplicating mandates or demanding
sudden and drastic emissions cuts that have no chance of being realized and
every chance of hurting our economy. The wrong way is to sharply increase
gasoline prices, home heating bills and the cost of energy for American
businesses, and to unilaterally impose regulatory costs that put those
businesses at a disadvantage with their competitors abroad, an approach
that would drive American jobs overseas and increase emissions there.

The right way, as the President has proposed, is to invest in new
technologies, set realistic goals, expand emission-free nuclear power,
clean coal and renewable power, and to ensure that U.S. actions are taken
in concert with all major economies as was agreed to by the G-8.

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