It was a tough week for advocates of doing something about climate change. Three bills were introduced in Congress to delay, curb or stop regulation of greenhouse gases by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Late Wednesday, Rep. Fred Upton (MI-06), the chairperson of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the climate change denier who is the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, released a discussion draft of their proposal to permanently block the EPA from regulating emissions. They're calling it the ‘‘Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011.’’ The EPA began regulating major emitters in early January, particularly power plants and oil refineries.
If passed, the legislation would amend the Clean Air Act to exclude its coverage of greenhouse gases, overturn the EPA's finding that the gases are a threat to human healtha and make moot the Supreme Court's 4-year-old decision that the EPA can regulate the gases.
The two men have been working on the legislation with the apparently enthusiastic assistance of industry representatives they conferred with during a closed-door meeting Jan. 18.
On Monday, Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) introduced "Defending America’s Affordable Energy and Jobs Act." Like the Upton-Inhofe bill, it would block regulations under the Clean Air Act, but also the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
On Tuesday, Democrat Jay Rockefeller introduced a bill to delay EPA implementation of the emission regulations for two years. It's the same bill Rockefeller introduced last year. Co-sponsors of the "EPA Stationary Source Regulations Delay Act" include Democratic Senators Jim Webb (Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Kent Conrad (N.D.).
Rockefeller said in a statement: "We must give Congress enough time to consider a comprehensive energy bill to develop the clean coal technologies we need and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, protect West Virginia and improve our environment. We can address emissions and secure a future for the U.S. coal industry, but we need the time to get it right and to move clean coal technology forward."
In his own statement, Webb said: "I do not believe that Congress should cede its authority over an issue as important as climate change to unelected officials of the Executive Branch. It is critical to our environment and our national security that we move towards more responsible energy policy, but Congress—not the EPA—should enact any changes, and be accountable to the American people for them."
Earlier in the day, when the Upton-Inhofe bill had not yet emerged, according to Kate Sheppard:
Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.)—authors of the cap and trade bill that the House passed in 2009 to deal with global warming—sent the draft of the [Republican] bill to reporters Wednesday evening, stating that they received a copy from "industry lobbyists." The two Democrats panned the draft as an "assault the Clean Air Act" in a release sent to reporters Wednesday night.
"The Republicans have a lot of power, but they can’t amend the laws of nature. Gutting the Clean Air Act is only going to make our problems worse," said Waxman in a statement. "This proposal threatens public health and energy security, and it undermines our economic recovery by creating regulatory uncertainty."
As Sheppard says, the concern now is that the Republican proposals will persuade some people that Rockefeller's delay is a moderate middle ground.
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2005:
The GOP agenda is not designed to help America, it's designed to cement their hold on power.
President Bush's agenda for the next four years, much of which he will highlight in his State of the Union address tonight, includes many proposals that would not only change public policy but, the GOP hopes, achieve an ambitious political goal: Stripping money and voters from the Democratic Party and cementing Republican dominance for years after he leaves office.
So they go after the trial lawyers, they go after the unions, they try to create "investors" through social security privatization, they demonize gays.
All in the pursuit of unrivaled power. |