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New Energy Chair Vows to Block Climate Regulations

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"Belies his congressional site statement: 'Climate change is a serious problem.'"

New House Energy goes against campaign promisesRep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who will become the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman this week, indicated Sunday that he would block EPA greenhouse gas regulations.

"We are not going to let this administration regulate what [it's] been unable to legislate," Rep. Upton told Fox News host Chris Wallace. "We're going to have early, early hearings on this. We're going to see exactly what [its] analysis is on [the] impact on jobs."

"There's also something called the Congressional Review Act, that within 60 days of rules being published, Congress can take this up and with an up or down vote, it is filibuster-proof in the Senate," he added.

The Congressional Review Act was enacted in 1996 and allows Congress to overrule federal regulations issued by government agencies. It has only been successfully used once.

Writing an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal last week, Upton and Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said the EPA's plan to begin regulating carbon emissions from power plants was "an unconstitutional power grab that will kill millions of jobs."

Fox's Wallace responded: "But we checked, Congressman, on your congressional website, and you say on the website, 'I strongly believe that everything must be on the table as we seek to reduce carbon emissions. Climate change is a serious problem that necessitates serious solutions.'"

"So question, is carbon a problem or isn't it? And if it is, if you're going to kill the EPA regulation, what is your solution?"

"We want to do this in a reasonable way," Upton replied, "before the end of the next decade, our country is going to need 30%–40% more electricity. . .I don't think we have to regulate carbon to the degree we have a carbon tax or. . .cap-and-trade system."

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