In case there was any doubt, the White House on Tuesday issued a formal statement opposing a bill now before the House that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases for the purpose of combating climate change.

The bill, known as the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, could come up for a vote as early as Wednesday and is almost certain to pass when it does. It has virtually unanimous support among the Republican majority and will probably draw votes from a few Democrats from coal and oil producing states.

The measure, sponsored by Representatives Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan, and Ed Whitfield, Republican of Kentucky, would overturn the E.P.A.’s finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases pose a danger to human health and the environment. That finding, based on a broad scientific consensus, is the basis for pending regulation of carbon emissions from vehicles and large stationary sources like power plants, factories and refineries.



Republicans assert the new rules are a hidden energy tax that will significantly raise production costs and drive jobs offshore.

Administration officials have spoken out against the bill in speeches and congressional testimony, but President Obama had not formally threatened to veto it. On Tuesday, the White House issued a strongly worded statement that erases any doubt.

“The administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 910, which would halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s common-sense steps under the Clean Air Act to protect Americans from harmful pollution,” the statement says. “H.R. 910 would also increase the nation’s dependence on oil and other fossil fuels as well as contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.”

Senator James Inhofe, the most outspoken climate change skeptic in Congress, has introduced identical legislation in the Senate. The Senate is also considering a number of amendments that would eliminate or delay any federal regulation of greenhouse gases. The timing of votes on those measures remains up in the air.

The White House statement says that over its 40-year history, the Clean Air Act has markedly cleaned the nation’s air and saved hundreds of thousands of lives, while electricity production and prices have remained stable. It also says that the bill would undercut efforts to make cars and trucks more fuel-efficient and would worsen the threat of global warming.

“Finally, H.R. 910 would contradict public health experts and scientists and strip E.P.A. of its authority to develop sensible standards for currently unchecked carbon pollution and thus prevent E.P.A. from following its statutory obligations as interpreted by the Supreme Court,” the statement concludes.

“If the president is presented with this legislation, which would seriously roll back the Clean Air Act authority, harm Americans’ health by taking away our ability to decrease carbon pollution and undercut fuel efficiency standards that will save Americans money at the pump while decreasing our dependence on oil,” the statement says, “his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill.”

An earlier version of this post referred to Representative Ed Whitfield as a congressman from Washington State; he represents Kentucky.