Amid climate war, US Senate upholds greenhouse gas rules
by Staff Writers
Washington June 10, 2010
The US Senate on Thursday narrowly beat back an effort led by President Barack Obama's Republican foes to curb the US government's power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions tied to global warming.
After a bitter debate focused on stalled efforts to advance comprehensive legislation to battle climate change, lawmakers voted 53-47 to block action on a resolution authored by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of oil-rich Alaska.
Murkowski's measure would have barred the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from moving to restrict carbon emissions from vehicles and industrial activity -- notably power plants -- under the US Clean Air Act.
Obama praised the vote, calling it "yet another reminder" of the need for a comprehensive energy and climate bill.
"Today, the Senate chose to move America forward, towards that clean energy economy - not backward to the same failed policies that have left our nation increasingly dependent on foreign oil," he said in a statement.
The legislative battle stemmed from a 2007 decision by the US Supreme Court requiring the government to decide whether carbon dioxide gas emissions pose a threat to human health.
The EPA subsequently issued an "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare.
But with November mid-term elections dominating the US political landscape, the debate over the resolution centered on potential job-losses from EPA action and on the pros and cons of a more sweeping effort to fight climate change.
The White House and supporters of the regulation both argued that they would prefer the US Congress act on comprehensive energy legislation, but split on whether government agencies could or should act on climate change until then.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid branded Murkowski's resolution "a great, big gift to big oil" firms that would "increase pollution, increase our dependence on foreign oil, and stall our efforts to create jobs and, in doing so, move to a clean-energy economy."
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell denounced EPA action as a "blatant power grab" stemming from Democratic inability to push through a comprehensive energy bill, which he branded as a new tax measure.
"Now that it's clear Congress won't pass this new national energy tax this year, the administration has shifted course and is now trying to get done through the back door what they haven't been able to get through the front door," he charged.
Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber's number two Democrat, said lawmakers faced "a choice between real science and political science" -- the global scientific consensus on climate change versus pre-election politicking.
Republicans said that efforts by the government to impose new regulations to control greenhouse gas emissions would hamper big business and severely harm the economy as it recovers from the worst economic crisis on record.
Obama has been pushing Democrats in Congress to use the Gulf oil disaster, which he says shows the folly of over-reliance on fossil fuels, to launch a new bid to pass climate change legislation that is mired in the Senate.
The White House had warned Obama would veto the measure if it cleared the Congress.
Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace reacted with alarm to the vote, which saw six Democrats join Republicans in seeking to block the planned EPA rules, warning the result "was nowhere near a blowout in our favor."
"It is a sign that Congress is not prioritizing clean energy," the group said in a statement.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation
Climate Change Leading To Major Vegetation Shifts Around The World
Berkeley CA (SPX) Jun 10, 2010
Vegetation around the world is on the move, and climate change is the culprit, according to a new analysis of global vegetation shifts led by a University of California, Berkeley, ecologist in collaboration with researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
In a paper published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, researchers present evidence that over the ... read more
|
|
|
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook