Rockefeller will ‘push hard’ for bill that suspends EPA greenhouse gas rules

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said Friday that he’s pushing for a vote on his bill that would suspend EPA regulation of greenhouse gases from power plants and other industrial facilities for two years.

His pledge comes a day after Senate Democratic leaders abandoned plans to bring up climate change legislation before the August recess and likely the rest of the year.

“I am continuing to push hard for my bill to suspend EPA action for two years, so that Congress, not federal regulators, can set national energy policy,” said Rockefeller, an ally of his home state’s coal industry, in a statement. Six centrist Democrats have signed onto his bill thus far.

Rockefeller said cap-and-trade plans offered in the Senate this year “don’t work for West Virginia,” and welcomed Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to move a slimmed-down energy and oil spill response bill next week that omits carbon provisions.

“The decision this week to focus in the Senate on the oil spill and some non-controversial energy efficiency initiatives is a sound idea with bipartisan support,” Rockefeller said. “But in the meantime, the EPA could do real harm to our economy if allowed to go forward precipitously, without additional direction from Congress,” he added.

Environmental groups say they will mount a campaign to defend EPA’s power to regulate heat-trapping emissions.