Breaking: GOP Senator's Polluter Protections Won't See Senate Vote

categories: Greenhouse Gas, Policy & Legislation

Published September 24, 2009 @ 10:59AM PT

Senate Democrats have apparently headed off a move by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to gut federal regulatory authority over greenhouse gas pollution.

Climate Progress is reporting today that there was debate, but no vote, on the Alaska senator's amendment to Department of Interior and other environment appropriations legislation. Murkowski's rider would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions any source other than automobiles until the fall of 2010.

EPA has the power to regulate carbon pollution to do under the Clean Air Act. In a letter to the Senate, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said that curbing that authority would also undercut its authority to regulate emissions from cars as well:

Perhaps the most striking impact would be to make it impossible for the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate the light-duty vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions standards that the agency proposed on September 15,2009. Because of the way the Clean Air Act is written, promulgation of the proposed light-duty vehicle rule will automatically make carbon dioxide a pollutant subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act for stationary sources, as well as for light-duty vehicles. The only way that EPA could comply with the prohibition in Senator Murkowski's amendment would be to not promulgate the light-duty vehicle standards.

Murkowski defended her proposal on the floor of the Senate today, according to Climate Progress: "She is on the Senate floor right now [at 12:53 PM ET] throwing in the towel and defending her absurd proposal. Now she claims there is a “rush” to pass a Senate climate bill — after 12 years of doing nothing."

But Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) criticized Murkowski "at great length, saying 'we can’t afford to bury our heads in the sand on climate change'" and if you don’t want the EPA to take action, then the only alternative is cap-and-trade. "Global warming is real...it’s happening all over the world," said Feinstein.

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Another Republican Woman form Alaska... Doing what they do best... Standing up for the rights of Big Oil and Polluting the Evironment!

Posted by Rachel Russell on 09/24/2009 @ 12:29PM PT
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