JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is hosting three public listening sessions for the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, and the first of the three took place in Missouri on Wednesday.
Speaking in opposition to the regulation put in place during the years under President Barack Obama, Gov. Eric Greitens issued a statement on the regulation.
“President Obama’s EPA tried to regulate the jobs that they didn’t like out of America,” Greitens said. “Thank God the new leaders in this administration are listening to the people. A disastrous regulation pushed by the Obama administration would have eliminated thousands of Missouri jobs, and cost Missourians thousands of dollars. Our electric rates in Missouri would increase by 20% under the Obama rule. Working families in Missouri can’t afford that. Under the previous administration, bureaucrats in Washington never held a listening session on this in Missouri. Today, that’s changed. Our administration will be testifying and thanking Administrator Pruitt and the new leaders of the EPA for listening to the people of Missouri. We need to put an end to out-of-control regulations from out-of-touch federal bureaucrats that take money out of your pockets.”
The Missouri Farm Bureau was one entity that shared testimony on the regulation as part of the listening session, saying that the “Clean Power Plan” would have “impacted farmers and ranchers by dramatically increasing energy costs, with an almost negligible effect on greenhouse gas emissions.”
“Missouri’s farmers and ranchers are leading the way in developing more sustainable practices, which will have a far greater benefit to the environment than these rules under even under the most optimistic scenario,” Eric Bohl, MOFB’s Director of Public Affairs, said. “Through innovation and experience, farmers and ranchers are using far fewer inputs today than they were just a few years ago to create even more food and fiber for the world.”
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
