Washington, D.C. - The American Tradition Institute (ATI) yesterday joined eight other free market groups, including the American Energy Institute (AEI), in support of Rep. Tim Murphy’s (R-Pa.) amendment to H.R. 1582, The Energy Consumers Relief Act of 2013. The organizations, in a letter to Members of the 113th Congress, asked Congress to strongly consider the Murphy amendment which, as the letter stated, “furthers the interests of Americans and the purposes of the underlying legislation by ensuring that the Environmental Protection Agency does not use a ‘social cost of carbon’ (SCC) metric to justify any significant regulation until they follow procedures which are public and transparent.”

The letter cited an example of why the Murphy Amendment is necessary to protect Americans from potential abuse of the SCC as justification for onerous, costly, and unnecessary regulation:

In May, in a little-noticed rule regulating the energy efficiency of microwaves in standby mode, the Department of Energy mentioned that they were dramatically increasing their earlier estimates of the ‘social cost of carbon.’ They did so without public comment, without public participation, and in violation of Office and Management and Budget guidelines. The effect of this unprecedented move was to make it easier to justify ever-more-costly energy regulations and potentially, to provide a baseline level for a carbon tax. All of this is being done without the consent of Congress or public input.

In addition to ATI and AEI, other organizations signing the letter included:

• 60 Plus Association
• American Commitment
• George C. Marshall Institute
• Independent Women’s Voice
• National Center for Public Policy Research
• National Taxpayer’s Union
• Positive Growth Alliance