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Senate Backs EPA Greenhouse Gas Authority The Senate rejected a resolution that challenged EPA’s authority to move ahead with rules, crafted under the federal Clean Air Act, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other large polluters.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) measure to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases failed by four votes in a procedural vote, with six Democrats joining the unanimous Republican effort to move the measure forward.
Murkowski was once regarded as a possible supporter of the climate change bill presented by Sens. Kerry and Lieberman. That prospect seems more unlikely in light of her characterization of the EPA rules as an attempt to “intimidate” lawmakers into passing broader climate change legislation.
Murkowski described the EPA move as an “unprecedented power grab” and said proposed regulation would impose costs on residential buildings, schools and businesses across the country.
Joining Murkowski were several other Republicans considered to be possible swing votes on the climate change bill, including Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Judd Gregg (N.H.), George LeMieux (Fla.) and Scott Brown (Mass.).
Murkowski said the suggestion that her resolution was a defense of Big Oil was “misdirection” and that her opposition to the EPA’s move was not over climate science but over who has the authority to create climate policy.
While some were inclined to regard the Murkowski vote as a litmus test for support of the climate change bill, several Republicans noted they were opposed to the EPA move precisely because they believed Congress should be shaping climate policy.
Eileen Claussen of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change remarked in a statement that the proceedings indicated a possible 61 senators who might vote for climate legislation: the 53 Democrats who opposed Murkowski’s effort, plus an additional eight who indicated they supported emissions reduction measures during the day’s debates. On the other hand, 47 senators—including six Democrats, all from heavily fossil-fuel dependent states—suggested they were uncomfortable with federal efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions. With fall elections on the horizon, some supporters have started to say climate legislation will have a better chance of passing next year. |
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