An election on Tuesday is taking up a lot of time and energy, both on DailyKos and in the mainstream media. However, the equally-important vote on Wednesday is being almost completely ignored. On Wednesday, the Senate returns from its winter holiday, and the first order of business is a vote on whether to gut the Clean Air Act.
Senator Murkowski -- the author of the amendment -- has received national attention for raking in utilities' campaign contributions while hiring lobbyists for the same utilities to write her Murky Air Act. And now she's picked up one Democratic cosponsor. Details below the fold.
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has led the Republicans' fight against the Environmental Protection Agency. Last fall she sought to delay EPA regulations with a significant amendment to a boring bill (HR 2996, Interior Department appropriations) which would have barred the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases from stationary sources (e.g., power plants, not cars) for one year. The amendment never made it to the floor, but apparently her hatred for clean air festered, and a new version will be offered on Wednesday as an amendment to HR 45, the bill to raise the debt ceiling.
The exact nature of Murkowski's amendment is still murky. As of late last week, she was considering options:
-- Murkowski may offer an amendment that puts a one-year moratorium on EPA's ability to regulate stationary sources of greenhouse gases, such as power plants.
-- Or she also could hold back for now on a vote and wait until next month on the disapproval resolution, which would retroactively veto EPA's December finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.
-- She's also considering forcing a premature vote on the Kerry-Boxer climate bill to "show the sense of the Senate," according to her spokesperson Robert Dillon. (Kerry-Boxer is not yet ripe for passage; the Finance Committee has not yet held considered and inserted language on allocations, the bill has not yet been merged with the politically popular clean energy-stand alone bill, and the bill hasn't yet been watered down to appease special interests amended to build coalitions necessary to secure its passage.)
A one-year moratorium on EPA enforcement will give the Republicans enough time to complete their minority party rule of the Senate, thanks to the filibuster and the likely results of the midterm elections.
As the New York Times reports, Murkowski's reasons for hating clean air are fossil-fueled by her campaign contributions: "more campaign contributions from the utility industry than any other lawmaker during the 2009-2010 election cycle." (Photo credit: Washington State Historical Society via Grist.) She hired two lobbyists, both Bush-era EPA appointees who now represent industries that will be harmed by proposed EPA rules, to write last fall's proposed EPA amendment. The director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington commented: "Rather than merely getting the chance to comment on legislation, these companies actually got to write legislation themselves. It seems the investment paid off."
Climate change in the polar latitudes is eroding coastlines as much as 30 to 45 feet per year -- but the fate of Alaskan villages doesn't seem to concern Alaska's senior senator as much as her donors' demands for the right to unfettered pollution.
Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones reports that Murkowski has picked up one Democratic cosponsor after approaching twenty-one (21! are there 21 Democrats who hate clean air?) about possible cosponsorship. The mystery Democrat may be Evan Bayh (D-IN), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), or Jim Webb (D-VA). Miles Grant opines that it might be Webb. Get Energy Smart! Now!, a former "Draft Webb" supporter, is extremely disappointed by Webb's words and actions on clean energy and climate. As am I. Regardless of whether the Democratic murky-air-lover is Webb or someone else, Wednesday's vote will be seen as a harbinger of the fate of the climate bill.
Tomorrow's vote will help determine the fate of healthcare reform, a climate bill, and the remainder of the Democrats' agenda. Wednesday's vote will help shape the fate of the air that we breathe.
(x-posted at The Seminal)