KEY SENATE DEMOCRAT OFFERS BILL TO DELAY EPA CLIMATE EFFORTS
News Date March 09, 2010
Last week, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va) introduced legislation, the Stationary Source Regulations Delay Act, to impose a two year moratorium on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts to regulate greenhouse gases (GHG) from stationary sources. This bill would still allow for the agency to move forward with their GHG-related efforts with motor vehicle emissions. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va) has since introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. By suspending further actions by the EPA on stationary sources, proponents believe there will be sufficient time for Congress to adequately address the issue.
In related news, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) introduced legislation to halt the EPA’s GHG efforts, similar to the resolution of disapproval introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) earlier this year. In prepared remarks to the National Press Club yesterday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson reacted to these recent legislative efforts, “Most drastically, we are seeing efforts to further delay EPA action to reduce greenhouse gases. This is happening despite the overwhelming science on the dangers of climate change…despite the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision that EPA must use the Clean Air Act to reduce the proven threat of greenhouse gases…and despite the fact that leaving this problem for our children to solve is an act of breathtaking negligence.” (Contact: David Hickey)