Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) believes the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming should be scrapped and that Republicans should wage war on several Environmental Protection Agency rules if they regain the majority.

Upton makes his case in a new Washington Times op-ed that offers a glimpse into where he might lead the House Energy and Commerce Committee if the GOP regains control in the upcoming midterm elections. He is considered a front-runner to win the powerful committee’s gavel.

“If the EPA continues unabated, jobs will be shipped to China and India as energy costs skyrocket. Most of the media attention has focused on the EPA's efforts to regulate climate-change emissions, but that is just the beginning,” writes Upton, who is currently the top Republican on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee.

The piece attacks toughened ozone standards, rules for commercial boilers and other pieces of what he calls a “regulatory train wreck” of “job killing” plans.

Upton also bashes the climate change panel that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) created in 2007 and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) chairs, calling it an example of Democratic priorities that are out of step with the public.

“To date, this new select committee has needlessly spent nearly $8 million in taxpayer money, and that does not account for the countless dollars spent on so-called ‘fact finding’ missions,” Upton writes in the op-ed posted online Monday evening that appears in Tuesday's print edition of the paper.

“By law, this select committee has no legislative role; its sole purpose is to write reports. The only jobs created by this committee are within the confines of Capitol Hill. The American people do not need Congress to spend millions of dollars to write reports and fly around the world. We must terminate this wasteful committee.”

Senior Democrats have not said whether the climate panel will continue if they retain the House majority. Markey has used the committee gavel to bash opponents of climate legislation and rally support for steep emissions cuts.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/124795-uptons-agenda-kill-the-house-climate-change-committee-battle-job-killing-epa-rules