Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt said proposed rules to lower carbon emissions by electricity-generating power plants will force unnecessary rate increases.
The White House says it is delaying the implementation of those rules until August, at the earliest.
The rules require new and existing power plants that burn coal and other fossil-fuels - to reduce emissions to levels 30-percent below those in 2005 – over the next 15 years.
Blunt said power plants are already cleaner than they were five or ten years ago. And he said implementing costly and questionable technologies will hit rate payers.
“This rule has the biggest potential impact on poor families. Families that are most hurt by this rule are families that can barely pay their utility bill now.”
Earlier this month, Blunt joined 28 other Republicans and one coal-state Democrat in co-sponsoring legislation allowing states to opt out of the rule and blocking the EPA’s implementation.
The EPA said the rules are necessary due to carbon’s impact on climate change.
