Rockefeller weighs timing of push to block EPA climate rules

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said Tuesday he’s mulling whether to try and add his bill that blocks EPA climate change rules as an amendment to energy and oil spill legislation heading for the Senate floor.

Rockefeller — a strong ally of his home state’s coal industry — hopes to freeze EPA rules limiting greenhouse gases from power plants and other stationary industrial sources for two years.

“Maybe not ... but maybe,” he told reporters in the Capitol when asked about trying to amend the energy bill. “The problem would be when is the best tactical time to do it.”

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to move the energy and oil spill package before the August recess.

Rockefeller and other opponents of EPA rules say they fear the mandates will harm the economy.

But environmentalists have made protecting EPA’s power a top priority following last week’s decision by Senate Democratic leaders to abandon climate legislation before the August break and probably for the year.

Rockefeller reiterated that earlier this year Reid pledged to allow a vote on the block-EPA plan before the November elections. Reid, however, was noncommittal about the matter when questioned by reporters last week.

EPA Clean Air Act rules that limit emissions from large facilities begin taking effect next year and phase in slowly from there.