The hearing marked the first time state legislators addressed the proposed federal policy, which has been met with skepticism from Pennsylvania's coal industry and business community who argue that the proposal would increase electric prices and raise the cost of doing business in the state. Subsequently, environmentalists, including those supporting the solar and wind sectors, heralded the administration's recent proposal.
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The committee also heard from Dan Byers, Senior Director of Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy who highlighted a comment made by current Secretary of State John Kerry on the EPA proposal:
"[T]he United States cannot solve this problem or foot the bill alone. Even if every single American got on a bicycle tomorrow and carpooled - instead of - or carpooled to school instead of buses or riding in individual cars or driving, or rode their bike to work, or used only solar powers - panels in order to power their homes; if we each, every American, planted a dozen trees; if we eliminated all of our domestic greenhouse gas emissions - guess what? That still wouldn't be enough to counter the carbon pollution coming from the rest of the world. Because today, if even one or two economies neglects to respond to this threat, it can counter, erase all of the good work that the rest of the world has done. When I say we need a global solution, I mean we need a global solution."
Byers further emphasized that in the absence of similar actions by other major economies, U.S. regulations to address carbon emissions will fail, something the EPA and Obama Administration are keenly aware of.
Read the full article at Towanda (PA) Daily Review.