Immediately before President Obama left for his Hawaii vacation, he announced he would veto through inaction two congressional resolutions that would have nullified recent executive-branch environmental rules.

 “The Clean Power Plan is essential in addressing the largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in our country,” President Obama said. “It is past time to act to mitigate climate impacts on American communities.”

 In recent months, both the House and Senate passed resolutions to overturn the Clean Power Plan and another regulation affecting carbon emissions from power plants.

 The Clean Power Plan also faces opposition in court from 27 states, which claim the Environmental Protection Agency has vastly overstepped its authority.

 While members of Congress supporting the resolutions anticipated a veto, they intended to send a message to the White House, as Sen. Jim Inhofe said recently, adding that “without the backing of the American people and Congress, there will be no possibility of legislative resurrection once the courts render the final judgments on the president’s carbon mandates.” 

 The Clean Power Plan forces states to cut their carbon emissions by 32 percent over 2005 levels over the next 15 years.

 The measures states would have to take to meet these standards would significantly increase utility bills for residents in all but three states, according to one study released in November.

 The president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce recently told Congress that low-income minority families, who spend a larger portion of their take-home pay on electricity, will  bear the brunt of the cost.

 Legislative remedy defeated, the courts will decide the fate of these costly regulations.