Texas Sen. Cornyn on Greenhouse Gasses

Dear Sen. Cornyn.

Thank you for your greenhouse gas form letter.

You are against controlling carbon dioxide emissions by fossil fuel burning as proposed by the EPA, because you see the great cost and damage to our economy in doing so. This is a very pragmatic and attractive approach, but it still leaves you wide open to continued EPA pressure.

The EPA starts with the assumption that greenhouse gases are bad and if you follow that assumption, you are liable for easy manipulation by the EPA.

The fact is that greenhouse gases are not in general destructive to our environment. Earth's atmospheric gases are absolutely essential for maintaining life on earth. Without greenhouse gases, the differences between nighttime and daytime temperatures would be so great as to obviate Earth's ability to maintain organic life.

We are this favorable presence of greenhouse effect primarily because of two major gases in the atmosphere; nitrogen and oxygen. Other natural gases, such as argon at 1% and carbon dioxide at less than 0.05% have only minor effects on the greenhouse ability of the system. There is nothing special about carbon dioxide. It is neither poisonous nor especially heat reflective in its greenhouse ability. Because of its low concentration, it can be considered an almost insignificant part of the greenhouse gas complex. However, it does have another special property. Even at low atmospheric concentration, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is necessary for the continued growth and health of plant life, on which we depend as food. That is, even slight increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide contribute are to higher crop yields and general forestry.

Once again, contrary to the position of the EPA, carbon dioxide is not a dangerous greenhouse gas. It is a greenhouse gas, but there's nothing dangerous about it. It is part of the greenhouse gas system as originally required for the production and continuance of life on this planet.

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From: Senator Cornyn [mailto:SenateWebmail@cornyn.senate.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2015 9:23 AM
To: asucsy@suddenlink.net
Subject: Thank You For Contacting My Office

Dear Dr. Sucsy: Thank you for your recent letter regarding global climate change and greenhouse gases. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter. I welcome an open debate on how to be a good steward of our environment; however, I cannot support regulatory actions that create a massive new government bureaucracy, raise energy prices, increase taxes, and send American jobs overseas. I oppose actions by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to treat greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, as pollutants under the Clean Air Act (CAA). This misrepresents the legislative intent of the CAA in favor of expanding the EPA's regulatory authority. Recently, the EPA has sought to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. Furthermore, the EPA seeks to limit new plants by imposing new standards that are not commercially demonstrated today. As a result, a considerable amount of electricity generation is at risk and could be taken offline, increasing electricity prices and harming grid reliability. When regulatory agencies discount real-world data or fail to follow due process, they needlessly destroy jobs and threaten whole industries, increasing economic uncertainty and hampering job creation. I strongly believe that innovation and technological advances in traditional and alternative sources of energy will address our nation's environmental challenges more effectively than more government regulation. Furthermore, I believe that any effort to control greenhouse gas emissions should not place the United States at a global economic disadvantage or penalize American families and workers. Given the scope and magnitude of the EPA’s regulations and their impact on the economy, it is essential that the regulatory process remain transparent and accountable to all Americans, not solely in the hands of unelected bureaucrats. In an effort to restore transparency and accountability to the federal regulatory process, I cosponsored the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act (REINS Act; S. 226). This legislation would require major agency actions—defined as those having an economic impact of $100 million or more—to obtain prior congressional approval. S. 226 was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for further consideration, and it is my hope that this important legislation will be brought to the Senate floor for debate during the 114th Congress. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent Texas in the United States Senate, and I will continue to support policies that ensure economic viability while protecting public health. Thank you for taking the time to contact me. Sincerely, JOHN CORNYN United States Senator 517 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Tel: (202) 224-2934 Fax: (202) 228-2856 http://www.cornyn.senate.gov Please sign up for my monthly newsletter at http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/newsletter. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the nature of electronic communication, if you did not receive this e-mail directly from my office, I cannot guarantee that the text has not been altered. If you have questions about the validity of this message, or would like to respond to this message, please use the web form available at my website, http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/contact.

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