Sen. Murkowski Expected to Delay Amendment on EPA's GHG Rules

Sources said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was unlikely to present her amendment next week to bar the EPA from regulating CO2 emissions under the Clean Air Act, the Washington Post reported. Murkowski spokesman Robert Dillon said staffers were developing various schedule options for the amendment, and the senator had not yet decided whether to offer it on Jan. 20.
Dillon said "the possibility of a second-degree amendment" from Democrats to authorize the EPA action was playing "into our consideration into how to advance the EPA issue."

Dillon also confirmed that Bush administration EPA officials Jeffrey R. Holmstead and Roger R. Martella Jr. had provided "technical assistance" on Murkowski's amendment. In response, Clean Air Watch President Frank O'Donnell stated: "It's not a total shock that ex-Bush administration officials are ghostwriting for Murkowski on climate, though she ought to come clean and admit it so we can understand that big polluters are behind her initiative."