Isra-Mart srl : Senate rejects latest attempt to scupper EPA greenhouse gas rules

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But agency still faces temporary shutdown as Republicans and Democrats continue to argue over budget settlement
The Senate yesterday rejected Republican efforts to strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, with the long-awaited vote resulting in a 50-50 split in the 100-member chamber.

As expected, the vote on GOP amendments to small business legislation failed to secure the 60 votes necessary to pass through the Senate. Four Democrats supported the controversial amendment, but significantly Republicans were denied the 51 votes that would have allowed them to claim that a majority of Senators want to permanently block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
The vote was hailed as a victory by the Obama administration, which has long maintained that regulating emissions through the EPA using the existing Clean Air Act is crucial to its efforts to curb carbon emissions and reduce US reliance on oil imports.

"By rejecting efforts to rollback EPA's common-sense steps to safeguard Americans from harmful pollution, the Senate also rejected an approach that would have increased the nation's dependence on oil, contradicted the scientific consensus on global warming, and jeopardised America's ability to lead the world in the clean energy economy," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

The Senate also rejected three Democrat amendments that would have watered down or delayed the EPA's new climate change rules, after Republicans refused to support proposals that they dismissed as "cover votes" that did not go far enough to limit the watchdog's power.

However, GOP officials were quick to note that, with several Democrats from energy states voting for one or more of the amendments, in total 64 Senators voted for amendments calling for the scrapping or diluting of the EPA's emissions rules, suggesting that there is an appetite within Congress for a rethink on the administration's strategy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that Republicans would "continue to fight for legislation that will give the certainty that no unelected bureaucrat at the EPA is going to make efforts to create jobs even more difficult than the administration already has".

Speculation is now mounting that the GOP could make the EPA's climate rules a key component of upcoming negotiations to agree the 2012 budget.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is today expected to pass a bill that would strip the EPA of the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and take action to tackle climate change. The vote will be little more than a symbolic move given the Senate's refusal to pass similar legislation, but the GOP is hoping it will increase pressure on Democrats in coal-rich states.

The votes come as the EPA prepares to face more significant short-term disruption in the form of the federal government shutdown that will come into effect from midnight on Friday if Republicans and Democrats fail to resolve differences over President Obama's proposals for this year's budget.

Obama had agreed to Republican demands for spending cuts worth $33bn in the budget running up to September, but the Republican leadership, under pressure from the party's Tea Party wing, subsequently called for an additional $7bn in cuts.

If the standoff is not resolved, all non-essential federal agencies, including the EPA, will go into shutdown resulting in an estimated 800,000 staff being sent home.

According to a memo from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson obtained by the Politico web site, employees have been instructed to prepare for an "orderly shutdown" of the agency.

"In the face of tough choices, the goal has always been to maintain core services and ensure that the important work done by the EPA and other federal agencies continues uninterrupted," the memo states.

"That is why the Administration has been working day and night to find a solution on which all sides can agree - work that continues today. Given the realities of the calendar, however, prudent management requires that we plan for an orderly shutdown should Congress be unable to pass a funding bill by Friday of this week."