The Senate was scheduled to vote today on the resolution from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to block EPA regulation of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., predicted the resolution will be rejected, but added that "you never know until the vote takes place." Murkowski called the potential EPA regulation "an overreach by the executive branch" as the Obama administration threatened to veto her resolution if it passed the Senate.
Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and John Thune, R-S.D., criticized the administration for what Alexander called a bid by "an unelected group of bureaucrats" to regulate GHG emissions. Sen. John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., said he will support the resolution because "the fate of West Virginia's economy, our manufacturing industries, and our workers should not be solely in the hands of EPA." Among those saying they would vote against the resolution, ClimateWire reported, were Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
Former EPA Associate General Counsel Lee DeHihns was quoted as saying of the resolution's impact: "The mood is getting really nasty. The resolution may polarize the Senate even further such that whatever support the moderates had may get diluted by the harsh feelings that are set up by this vote."
- Related story also appeared in The Hill.
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