MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The three members of Alabama’s Public Service Commission, the panel tasked with regulating the state’s public utilities, on Wednesday penned a letter to President Barack Obama excoriating his administration’s environmental policies, which they say have unfairly targeted the South in an effort to send jobs back to traditionally Democratic states up North.
“The EPA you oversee and your radical environmentalist allies set out to not only kill the coal industry and deny this nation the use of 250 years’ worth of natural resources, but also to drive up electricity prices in the South to stunt our economic growth and drive jobs back to the blue states which voted for you,” the commissioners wrote. “In Alabama, we have enjoyed great success attracting new industry and manufacturing based on our ability to offer a superior workforce and low-cost utilities. The actions of your EPA and the radical environmentalists whom you support have made such success even more challenging.”
PSC President Twinkle Cavanaugh and commissioners Chip Beeker and Jeremy Oden accused the President of failing to keep his promises on a wide variety of issues, saying that there is only one time he’s actually kept his word.
“In 2008 you announced, ‘Under my plan, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,'” they wrote. “This statement was followed by a unique set of circumstances during your time in office: you actually followed through on a promise. You lied when you said, ‘If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.’ You lied when you said individuals under Obamacare could keep their doctors. You have made lying to the American people one of the pillars of your administration. As a result of the one time you have actually kept your word, you have immeasurably burdened the hard-working men and women of our state.”
In a recent analysis, Politico’s Erica Martinson wrote that political watchers can “expect nonstop energy drama in 2015,” with the President rolling out a broad range of environmental regulations that business groups say will include the most expensive mandates ever handed down by the federal government.
In the Yellowhammer State, Alabama Power alone has spent over $3 billion complying with federal environmental regulations, but their efforts were not able to stop the shuttering of two of the state’s coal-fired units in 2014.
The PSC’s full letter to President Obama can be read below.
RELATED: Alabama’s energy sector in EPA’s crosshairs in 2015
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing today on behalf of the people of Alabama who are suffering from the devastating effects of your administration’s punitive and over-burdensome mandates handed down through your Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As members of the Alabama Public Service Commission, we are charged with ensuring that the citizens of our state receive low-cost and reliable energy. Unfortunately, your politically-motivated federal mandates have made that virtually impossible.
In 2008 you announced, “Under my plan, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” This statement was followed by a unique set of circumstances during your time in office: you actually followed through on a promise. You lied when you said, “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.” You lied when you said individuals under Obamacare could keep their doctors. You have made lying to the American people one of the pillars of your administration. As a result of the one time you have actually kept your word, you have immeasurably burdened the hard-working men and women of our state.
The EPA you oversee and your radical environmentalist allies set out to not only kill the coal industry and deny this nation the use of 250 years’ worth of natural resources, but also to drive up electricity prices in the South to stunt our economic growth and drive jobs back to the blue states which voted for you. In Alabama, we have enjoyed great success attracting new industry and manufacturing based on our ability to offer a superior workforce and low-cost utilities. The actions of your EPA and the radical environmentalists whom you support have made such success even more challenging.
At the expense of working families and seniors across Alabama, your plan has succeeded. Your callous disregard for the fallout from your War on Coal has placed tens of thousands of jobs at risk and placed an even greater burden on family budgets.
In contrast to your view, energy is one of our state’s and our nation’s necessary tools to cultivate freedom and opportunity. An all-of-the-above energy policy for our nation will allow us to reach our full potential and finally get out from under the burden of our enormous debt. An energy policy that includes the use of all of our God-given natural resources will allow us to refuel an economic engine that is sputtering while China, India, and other countries enjoy growth at unprecedented rates. We want families in Alabama to have the opportunity to make their lives better with the type of good paying jobs that come with low-cost energy.
You have more than two years remaining in your term. Therefore, it is not too late for you to reverse your course and implement an energy policy for this nation based on freedom and opportunity, not the principle of government picking winners and losers for political purposes. It is vital for the well-being of the citizens of Alabama that you reconsider your decision.
Respectfully,
Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, Jeremy Oden, Chris “Chip” Beeker, Jr.
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— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) December 3, 2014
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