EPA Vote Fails in Senate

A closely watched resolution that would block the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act came up short in a June 10 Senate vote.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who sponsored the resolution, said she was pleased that it came to a floor vote so the public knows how her colleagues feel about the issue, even though it failed on a 53-47 vote.

Six Democrats voted with a block of 41 Republicans to halt EPA’s planned regulations.

“I had hopes, for the security of our economy, that we would prevail today,” Murkowski said in a statement. “But regardless of the outcome, I believe it’s important that every member of the Senate is on the record on whether they think the EPA regulation is the appropriate way to address climate issues,” she said.

However, the vote on the resolution, taken with a bill sponsored by Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D- W.Va., that seeks a two-year delay in EPA regulation of greenhouse gases from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, indicates more than half of the Senate supports some curbs on EPA’s actions.

“With 47 senators voting for this resolution, and another five senators who are co-sponsors of Sen. Rockefeller’s two-year “time out” legislation, there is a majority of the Senate in favor of reigning in the use of the Clean Air Act,” said Kirk Johnson, NRECA vice president of energy and environmental policy. “Now we have to get those and other senators to agree on the right way to do it.”

Murkowski’s resolution would have voided a December EPA endangerment finding on the effect of greenhouse gases on public health and safety.

She said the resolution was less about the science of the issue and more about preventing a federal agency from implementing plans that could have serious economic consequences, so Congress can act on a climate change bill.

“Our bipartisan disapproval resolution presents an opportunity to stop the worst option for regulating greenhouse gases from moving forward while we work on a more responsible solution,” she said.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., who co-sponsored the resolution, also said Congress should act on climate change, instead of leaving the issue to EPA and a complicated Clean Air Act regulatory scheme that it plans to start next year.

“It is a widely shared view, that the Clean Air Act, with its command-and-control approach to regulating air emissions, is the wrong fit for addressing greenhouse gas emissions,” Lincoln said.

If implemented, the new permitting process could threaten more than a dozen Southern biomass plants that generate more than 300 megawatts, she said.

Other Democrats who sided with the GOP were Evan Bayh of Indiana, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia.

The Murkowski resolution faced an uphill battle, even if it cleared the Senate. The House was considered unlikely to pass it, and the White House already had threatened to veto the measure.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he still intends to move ahead with a climate change bill this year.