GOP leaders draw bead on EPA

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Critics of U.S. President Barack Obama's domestic energy policies said environmental regulations may be hurting the country's manufacturing sector.

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., chairman of the House Energy and Power Subcommittee, took note of a report published by the National Association of Manufacturing that says the regulations backed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may be costing the manufacturing sector "billions of dollars" in lost revenue.

"EPA's expansion of red tape is strangling job creators and American consumers at a time when they can least afford it," Whitfield said in a statement.

Whitfield in July helped draft a measure that would phase of federal funding for solar programs. He, along with Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, added that the role of the U.S. health regulators on a working group examining the development of resources like shale natural gas was curbing U.S. energy growth.

"Despite the significant growth of natural gas development, we are greatly concerned that the scientific objectivity of the Department of Health and Human Services is being subverted and countless jobs could be in jeopardy," a Republican letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius read.

Their Democratic rivals have put their efforts behind environmental regulations and low-carbon energy sources. They say storms like Hurricane Sandy, said to be fueled by an abnormal climate, suggest more effort was needed to support environmental safeguards.