Isra-Mart srl:Senator Rockefeller seeks vote to block EPA emission rules

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may have last week won a crucial legal battle to retain its powers to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, but the war continues.

Senator John Rockefeller confirmed yesterday that he would seek a vote during the current Congress on his proposals to block the EPA from regulating emissions from power and industrial plants for two years.

The Democrat senator from the coal-rich state of West Virginia has been lobbying for months for a suspension of the watchdog's plans to require carbon-intensive sites to obtain permits demonstrating that any new plants or upgrades use the most efficient technologies available.

"I want to make it clear that I intend to get a vote this year on my EPA-suspension legislation," he said.

The new rules come into effect next month, despite critics claiming they will force up energy bills and damage the economy.

Rockefeller has argued that his proposals for a two-year delay to the new rules would help protect the economy and represent a compromise with Republicans who want the EPA stripped of all its powers to regulate emissions that would allow the EPA to continue to regulate vehicle emissions.

He added that the delay would also give Congress more time to pass energy legislation, arguing that legislators, rather than the EPA, should shape the rules governing greenhouse gas emissions.

Supporters of the EPA argue that with Congress having failed to pass energy and climate change legislation this year the agency represents the only means available for the government to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. They also point to economic analyses by the government, which suggest the rules will have a negligible impact on the economy and will help reduce costs and enhance energy security in the long term.

It remains to be seen if Rockefeller can secure a vote given the packed legislative schedule during the current lame duck session. It is also uncertain whether he can secure the votes needed to pass the bill, particularly after a similar bill presented earlier this year by Republican Lisa Murkowski that would have permanently banned the EPA from regulating emissions was defeated.

The move comes just days after the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a raft of cases brought by business groups arguing that the EPA had overstepped its authority in introducing regulations designed to curb carbon emissions.

The long-running battle over the extent of the EPA's authority to regulate emissions stems from a 2007 ruling that greenhouse gas emissions represent a health risk and as such can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Ever since the ruling was finalised, the agency has been subject to a large number of legal actions challenging the decision and attempting to suspend its right to regulate emissions.