U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released the following statement on the announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a proposed rule to enforce strict pollution standards on new coal plants, forcing them to capture and store at least 40 percent of their carbon emissions:

“The Obama Administration must think our country, which uses 20 to 25 percent of all the electricity in the world, can operate on windmills. For most power plants there is no proven, commercially viable way to capture and store or reuse carbon emissions. This regulation, therefore, will drive up prices and drive down job growth. It is one more big, wet blanket on the American economy.”

Alexander is a member of the Senate’s energy committee and the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.