60 Plus Chairman Testifies in Louisiana to Stop EPA’s ‘Cruel Power Plan’ Regulation

“Seniors on fixed incomes, especially in Louisiana, cannot afford any increase in the cost of electricity for a government climate scheme that even Secretary Kerry admits will have NO impact.“

(Alexandria, Virginia) — Today 60 Plus Acting Chairman Bill Greener appeared before the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) offering testimony urging state leaders to not comply with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for the state promulgated from its so-called ‘Clean Power Plan’ (CPP) rule.

Currently under federal court review and opposed by more than two dozen state attorneys general, the CPP will lead to massive increases in the cost of consumer electricity, a devastating development for seniors on fixed incomes and the working poor.

Said Greener, “We believe [CPP] stands for ‘Cruel Power Plan’ because of the harm it is sure to bring on America’s seniors and the economically vulnerable. We are also concerned about EPA piling on other costly regulations at the same time.

“We hope that the Commission will take these multiple hits on senior consumers into account as it deliberates on the Cruel Power Plan.  Seniors on fixed incomes, especially in Louisiana, cannot afford any increase in the cost of electricity for a government climate scheme that even Secretary Kerry admitted will have NO impact.

“It’s too bad that instead of focusing on finding ways to relieve economic distress for seniors and other vulnerable minority communities, bureaucrats in Washington are pushing policies that will make their lives even harder.”

Earlier this year, 60 Plus filed an Amicus Brief with the DC Court of Appeals in support of the AG challenge.  EPA administrators have acknowledged that the Plan’s greatest adverse impact will be felt by ‘low-income’ and ‘minority’ communities.

Greener noted the high poverty rates of Louisiana seniors relative to the rest of the nation, and how sensitive the elderly are to increases in utility bills, which make up the majority of their monthly residential expenses. Greener was joined by 60 Plus seniors from Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette and Slidell, in attendance at the hearing to make person appeals to the Commission regarding the devastating effects the CPP and combined EPA regulations on energy will have on their cost of living.

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