Isra-Mart srl:Republicans to unveil second bill targeting EPA carbon rules

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Just days after unveiling a Senate bill that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and all other federal bodies of the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, Republicans are today expected to launch a similar bill in the House of Representatives.

In a direct challenge to president Obama's plan to regulate greenhouse emissions, the new bill is expected to reverse all steps the EPA has taken to regulate emissions, including its controversial ruling that greenhouse gas emissions constitute a threat to public health and can therefore be regulated through the existing Clean Air Act.

The draft bill will be presented by House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton and is expected to be fast-tracked through to a vote on the House floor within the next few months.

As with the Senate bill presented earlier this week by Republican senator John Barrasso, the bill is highly unlikely to pass through the Democrat-controlled Senate. But Republican strategists hope the two bills will help weaken the EPA's authority and build support amongst some Democrats for more modest legislation that would temporarily help EPA efforts to regulate emissions from power plants and industrial facilities.

The move comes as the influential US Chamber of Commerce yesterday unveiled a new energy strategy and signaled that in addition to opposing efforts to regulate emissions through either cap-and-trade schemes or EPA regulations, it was also likely to oppose president Obama's proposals for a new "clean energy standard".

The president said in his State of the Union address that he wanted to introduce a standard that would require the US to generate 80 per cent of its energy from renewables, nuclear, natural gas and so-called clean coal by 2030.

But senior officials at the trade group questioned whether the target was achievable, arguing that firms lack the capital to deliver such an ambitious programme.

The group, which has angered green businesses in the past by consistently opposing environmental legislation and measures designed to bolster the low-carbon economy, presented a wide-ranging plan, including proposals for more streamlined planning rules, increased domestic oil and gas drilling, and the formation of a Clean Energy Bank.

"In this economic and political environment, policymakers are seeking solutions which will get us on the right path without bringing us further in debt," said Karen Harbert, president and chief executive of the Chamber's Energy Institute. "We're proposing answers such as greater energy efficiency, more domestic production, streamlining – not weakening – environmental review processes, and eliminating trade barriers on clean energy goods and services. All of these solutions come at little or no taxpayer expense, but would dramatically improve our energy security in both the short and long term."

Meanwhile, Obama is today expected to begin the process of introducing a clean energy standard by meeting with the Democrat chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Jeff Bingaman, to discuss the proposals.