Texas Governor Rick Perry Tells Obama To Adopt Texas Energy Policy For Entire Country

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has accused President Barack Obama of promising “an energy renaissance while … strangling the energy industry” in a letter released Monday. Perry said Obama should instead adopt the Texas approach to energy nationally.

The letter, which was sent Friday, comes while a bipartisan energy bill is stalled in Congress. Republican senators have demanded a vote on the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline and federal regulations on emissions from coal-fired power plants.

The Republican governor and former presidential candidate -- he’s hinted at campaigning for the 2016 presidential race -- criticized Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations and Obama’s failure to approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to transport crude from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas.

“I am deeply concerned that your EPA behaves more like a den of activists than a repository of even-handed regulators,” Perry wrote.

New EPA regulations on coal-fired power plants, including rules designed to limit mercury emissions and rules to hold states accountable for pollution that drifts into other states, were recently upheld in a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court, respectively. Texas was a challenger in both cases.

Perry also said that the Obama administration is hindering domestic fossil fuel production with policies “that will incapacitate—and possible eliminate—critical sources of energy.”

The governor also argued that his state shows energy production and protection of the environment can go together. Texas has grown by more than 5 million people since 2000, installed more wind capacity than any other state and all but five countries and reduced air pollutants at a rate 12 percent greater than the national average, he said.