PDA

View Full Version : Amendment to stop the EPA




Pepsi
01-20-2010, 04:40 PM
Senator Murkowski's amendment to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions is to could be voted on soon, so call your Senators to tell them to support and pass this!

Chester Copperpot
01-20-2010, 04:41 PM
can we get a bill number please?

Pepsi
01-20-2010, 04:42 PM
Lisa Murkowski, the Republican senator from Alaska, looks set to file an amendment that could prevent the EPA regulating carbon emissions, in what could prove a devastating blow for the Obama administration's attempts to pass climate change legislation.

Murkowski, traditionally a strong opponent of carbon regulation, is reportedly planning to piggyback her amendment on a Congressional debate over increasing the federal debt later today.

The debate on the debt bill features a series of amendments. Mukowski's would impose a year-long restriction on the EPA, forbidding it from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

The move follows an endangerment finding on carbon emissions that came into effect on 14 January. That ruling, proposed just before the Copenhagen climate summit in December, enabled the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

If the amendment is introduced and passed, it could have severe ramifications on the Boxer-Kerry climate change bill that is currently stalled in Congress.

In a key piece of political manoeuvring, the Obama administration has been able to rely on the EPA endangerment finding as an alternative means of curbing carbon emissions if the cap-and-trade proposals in the climate bill are rejected by the Senate. Any successful attempt to remove the EPA's legislative power would see the administration lose considerable footing in its battle to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the US.

A spokesman for Murkowski said the aim of the amendment was to stop Democrats "blackmailing" Congress into passing the current version of the Boxer-Kerry bill as a least worst alternative to new regulations from the EPA.

Murkowski has already made several attempts to stall the EPA's endangerment finding. She attempted to get her amendment added to an EPA spending bill in September, but failed. She has also threatened to file a disapproval motion that would prevent the EPA regulating greenhouse gases as it has planned.

"If a pollutant is regulated under one section of the Clean Air Act, it triggers identical treatment in other sections of that statute. So while the EPA initially intends to address only mobile source emissions – meaning vehicles – the agency will also be required to regulate stationary source emissions as well," she warned in mid-December, when she announced plans to file the disapproval motion.

Democrats have vowed to fight the amendment. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, told reporters yesterday that Murkowski's actions were "a highly political move, and a highly hazardous one to our health and the environment".

"If this senator succeeds, it could keep Congress from working constructively in a bipartisan manner to pass clean energy legislation this year," he added.

In related news, the administration's attempts to pass carbon legislation ahead of this year's UN climate change summit in Mexico in December could have received another blow after Democrats lost the Massachusetts Senate seat made vacant by the death of senator Edward Kennedy.

Scott Brown beat Democrat candidate Martha Coakley by 52 per cent to 47 per cent, robbing the Democrats of their filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in the Senate and casting fresh doubts on the Obama administration's ability to pursue its health reform and climate change plans.

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2256426/republican-senator-prepares

Pepsi
01-20-2010, 04:47 PM
Looking into it

Working Poor
01-20-2010, 04:57 PM
It sounds like they want to give the job to the UN they are our new masters right?

Pepsi
01-20-2010, 05:03 PM
an amendment this week that would block EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

Senate leaders are allowing her a floor vote on climate change as part of the debate on debt ceiling legislation that the chamber takes up Wednesday, but it's not clear if she'll take the chance.

Murkowski wants to prevent EPA from crafting rules that would limit emissions from stationary sources like power plants and factories. She alleges such rules would cause economic harm, but 60 votes is unlikely.

Murkowski is also weighing use of a blunter instrument: a "resolution of disapproval" that would overturn EPA's "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gases threaten human welfare. The finding is a legal precursor to any future emissions rules.

That plan would also stop EPA's less controversial auto emissions rule, which the agency is crafting as part of a joint emissions and mileage standards policy with the Transportation Department. The resolution could not be filibustered, although it would face massive hurdles even if it cleared the Senate.

Murkowski spokesman Robert Dillon said Monday morning that Murkowski will do something Wednesday to reveal which direction she's heading — either introduce her amendment or take to the floor to tout the resolution of disapproval. The resolution would not be part of the debt ceiling debate.

"Come Wednesday we will all know what she decides," he said, adding that Murkowski is still weighing support for the various approaches.

Dillon said Murkowski has secured the backing of a Democrat for her efforts to block EPA, but he didn't name names.

Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones, who noted Friday evening that there's a mystery Democratic backer, listed several centrist Democrats as possibilities: Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Jim Webb (Va.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.).

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/76609-decision-looms-on-murkowski-epa-plan

Pepsi
01-20-2010, 05:05 PM
Senate set to vote on pay-go bill to clear way for debate over debt

Senators will vote on a pay-as-you-go measure this week as they move to address the country's growing $12.3 trillion debt.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will bring pay-go to the floor as an amendment to a bill seeking to increase the federal debt ceiling, part of a deal made with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a broader debate over the federal debt.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/76561-senate-to-vote-on-paygo-to-clear-way-for-debt-debate

Pepsi
01-20-2010, 05:52 PM
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) told reporters Wednesday that she is working with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Murkowski's efforts to block EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the agency's current Clean Air Act powers.

Murkowski's spokesman recently said Murkowski's effort had attracted a Democratic backer -- the aide didn't say who -- and that she is reaching out to other Democrats too.

"I am considering that right now," Landrieu said when asked whether she backed Murkowski's plan. "I have been working with her on it."

Landrieu said she is not yet ready to announce anything but believes the Clean Air Act is not meant to be applied to carbon dioxide emissions.

She is a strong ally of oil-and-gas producers and refiners.

Murkowski could offer an amendment to debt legislation as soon as this week that would halt planned EPA rules to regulate emissions from sources like power plants and factories.

But she may also drop that plan, and instead seek a formal "resolution of disapproval" that would overturn EPA's recent "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gases threaten human welfare. The finding is a precursor to any EPA emissions rules.

Murkowski spokesman Robert Dillon said Murkowski will give a floor speech Thursday that reveals what approach she will take.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/77115-landrieu-murkowski-collaborate-on-plan-to-block-epa-climate-rules