On the Blog: EPA Authority Over Greenhouse Gasses Remains Tenuous

Steve Zwick

The US Senate on Wednesday narrowly preserved the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act by shooting down a bill that denies scientific findings on climate change. That preservation, however, remains tenuous at best.

NOTE: This article appeared first on EKO-ECO Blog. Find the original post here.

7 April 2011 | The US Senate on Wednesday narrowly preserved the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act by shooting down a bill that denies scientific findings on climate change. That preservation, however, remains tenuous at best.

First, the 50/50 split on the Inhofe-McConnell bill means that half of the US Senate actually voted to ignore overwhelming consensus on climate change.

Second, a story posted today in E&E News makes it clear that more than 60 senators favored bills curtailing the EPA’s authority (subscription required) to regulate greenhouse gasses, even if they didn’t vote in favor of the more draconian bill:

Last night’s vote on four competing EPA amendments showed that 64 senators are willing to vote for legislation that would strip, limit or delay EPA’s rules to curb heat-trapping emissions from stationary sources. But the measures were significantly different from each other, and the ideological and political divisions between their supporters may make it difficult to forge an agreement.

Those bills that garnered the 14 other votes were introduced by conservative Democrats, and would have put a moratorium on the EPAs authority to regulate greenhouse gasses.

Then, today the House of Representatives passed a now-meaningless bill that does pretty much the same thing as the bill that was shot down.

You can bet this one isn’t over – and it isn’t going to get prettier.