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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (31176)	6/10/2010 7:11:44 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

Vote May Deny EPA Climate Policy Role By SEAN HIGGINS, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 07:07 PM ET When the Environmental Protection Agency claimed last year that it had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases, the Obama administration hoped to spur Congress into passing its own climate legislation. But that seems to have backfired. The Senate is set to vote Thursday on a resolution by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, that would strip the EPA of its newly declared authority. Insiders say it will be a close vote. A worried White House issued a veto threat Tuesday. "If it fails, it fails by only a very slim margin," said a Senate Democratic staffer who has worked on climate change legislation. "There is reason to be very concerned that this (resolution) could come up in the House as well." That's bad news for greens because House Democrats are feeling "very exposed" from last year's vote for a cap-and-trade bill, the staffer said. Some would be tempted to vote for the resolution. "This is terrible. Even if we only win by a little, almost half of Congress goes on record saying climate change isn't happening," said the staffer. "That isn't a win." Murkowski's resolution has 40 co-sponsors, including three Senate Democrats: Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu and Nebraska's Ben Nelson. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Wednesday he too would back it. "I have long maintained that the Congress — not the unelected EPA — must decide major economic and energy policy," Rockefeller said in a press release. "EPA regulation will have an enormous impact on the economic security of West Virginia and our energy future." No Filibuster The Senate has special rules for oversight of federal regulatory agencies, and that gives Murkowski a boost. Her resolution can't be filibustered, so it only needs 51 votes. It would have to pass the House as well — and President Obama would need to sign it. "It's very sweeping," said John Coequyt, a lobbyist with the Sierra Club. "It overrules the EPA's endangerment finding (that carbon emissions are a pollutant) and everything that follows from it." The White House and Democrats have hit back hard, trying to tie the vote to the Gulf oil spill. In his veto threat Tuesday, Obama said the resolution would undermine efforts to fight pollution "like the ongoing BP (BP) oil spill." "As seen in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental disasters harm families, destroy jobs and pollute the nation's air, land and water," he said. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson echoed the point in a Huffington Post op-ed Monday, as did Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a floor speech the same day. Murkowski said the attempt at linking the two was "a new low." "The only similarity I see between the oil spill and the EPA's climate regulations is that both are unmitigated disasters. The difference, of course, is that it's not too late for Congress to stop the EPA's regulations," she said in a statement. The support of Democrats like Rockefeller illustrates the White House's conundrum. Any effort to significantly reduce emissions loses lawmakers from states that rely on coal production or coal-fired electricity. EPA Move Backfires The White House had hoped the EPA's December regulatory announcement would get Congress to act. Instead, sweeping legislation stalled in the Senate. Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., tried again in May with an industry- and green-group-backed bill. To placate business and win over moderates, the measure would limit, but not strip, EPA authority. The legislation, which included a lot of sweeteners for industry, had the support of many major energy companies such as Shell Oil (RDSA) and Duke Energy (DUK). But the bill has no Republican support as the arguments made by Murkowski and others have held sway. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had co-sponsored an earlier version of Kerry-Lieberman but pulled out when he became convinced the Sen ate leadership wasn't fully behind it. Senate leaders have vowed to try to push the climate legislation through. But confusion reigned earlier this week when Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the leadership was mulling a move to tack on Kerry-Lieberman as an amendment to a different energy bill, a maneuver that would likely kill both. Reid will reportedly hold a meeting Thursday with key players to see how to proceed.