NPRA Statement on Defeat of Murkowski Resolution

WASHINGTON, June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Charles T. Drevna, president of NPRA, the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, issued the following statement today after the U.S. Senate failed to pass a resolution sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act:

"The fight against extreme and economically devastating environmental regulations continues. EPA's aggressive regulatory agenda will strike a terrible blow to American families worried about the cost of fueling their cars, American workers worried about losing their jobs, and American manufacturers worried about being forced to shut their doors and lay off employees.

"The Clean Air Act was never designed to apply to greenhouse gases. Supporters of the Murkowski resolution, which would have prevented EPA from using its regulatory powers to expand the Clean Air Act into uncharted and economically dangerous territory, will now continue and intensify their efforts.

"While the Murkowski resolution did not pass, it won support from a bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate. This indicates that many senators understand the grave damage that overreaching climate legislation would have on the American people and our economy.

"The Murkowski resolution was just the first skirmish of 2010 in the continuing battle by opponents of federal climate change legislation to prevent the enactment of a federal cap and trade bill this year.

"More skirmishes will follow as the fight continues to deliver the message to the Senate that such legislation will devastate America's fragile economic recovery, outsource our nation's energy future overseas, eliminate many U.S. jobs, and impose hundreds of billions of dollars in increased electricity, gasoline and other energy costs on American families, farmers and motorists."

SOURCE National Petrochemical & Refiners Association