Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect “God’s planet” during a testy climate hearing Tuesday.
The EPA is expected to release controversial air pollution rules later this week that business groups have called the “most expensive regulation in history.”
Republicans are skeptical of the EPA’s upcoming ozone rules, but many Democrats say they are the world’s last hope to fight climate change. Lawmakers argued about the rules during a heated Senate hearing.
“It’s God’s planet,” Boxer declared at the hearing. “We’ve got to protect it.
The EPA is expected to strengthen the air pollution rules by lowering the levels at which businesses and communities are allowed to emit ozone. The current ozone limit is 75 parts per billion (ppb), but the agency is expected to lower it to between 70 ppb and 68 ppb.
Repbulicans say this would make it the most expensive regulation in history, with one disputed study claiming it could cost businesses $1.7 trillion to comply.
Senate Environment Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) accused the EPA of colluding with “extremist environmental groups” on the rule.
“The EPA is essentially cutting corners in a shameless attempt to promote President Obama’s environmental legacy,” Inhofe said at the hearing.
Republicans contend that the ozone standards will raise energy costs for Americans and question how effective the rules will be at fighting climate change.
Their concerns haven’t phased the EPA or many Democrats.
“I have not had one constituent tell me, ‘The air is too clean. Stop cleaning up the air,’ ” Boxer remarked.
“If you cling to the dirty old energies of the past, you’re doomed in this world, because the people are not going to support dirty energy when they see what it’s doing to the planet,” she said.