Upton revives gas price debate ahead of vote on EPA climate rules

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) on Saturday touted an upcoming floor vote on his legislation to block EPA climate rules by reviving claims that it’s a weapon against rising gasoline prices – a contention that many Democrats dispute.

Upton raised the matter in a wider statement on GOP energy plans Saturday issued in response to President Obama’s weekly address.

“A key pillar of our plan is to stop government policies that drive up gasoline prices, which is why the U.S. House of Representatives will vote in the coming days on the bipartisan Energy Tax Prevention Act. This is a sensible, straightforward plan to stop reckless government regulations that will increase the price at the pump and on Americans’ monthly utility bills,” Upton said.

{mosads}Upton’s bill is highly likely to pass the House next week but faces major Senate hurdles. Republicans have increasingly tailored their political messaging on EPA climate rules toward prices at the pump as drivers’ costs have risen sharply in recent weeks.

But House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and other Democrats have pushed back against the idea that permitting rules EPA has begun phasing in for certain large emitters are related to today’s prices. 

And the independent fact-checking group PolitiFact has attacked the GOP claims that blocking EPA is a way to combat current costs at the pump, calling them inaccurate.

However, Upton’s statement Saturday — while surfacing amid a political battle over current consumer costs — is broadly worded enough to encompass the potential effects of future rules on gas prices as well, such as emissions standards for refineries that EPA plans to implement in coming years.

His statement also attacks White House energy policies more broadly, taking aim at Obama’s remark Saturday that the U.S. has only two percent of the world’s oil reserves, which Obama noted in stating that domestic drilling alone is not a path to energy security.

“With gasoline prices soaring and the economy still struggling, we simply cannot afford to lock away America’s own energy supplies or impose a maze of government regulations designed to drive up energy prices. Likewise, it serves no one well to understate — and therefore ignore — our own resources,” Upton said.

“To claim America has just two percent of the worlds ‘reserves’ is misleading. In fact, the United States is blessed with the largest amount of fossil energy ‘resources’ in the world, eclipsing Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada combined—and that’s without American oil shale deposits and natural gas hydrates. Americans don’t face a shortage of domestic energy; we face a surplus of government regulation,” he added.