Upton, Inhofe release bill to block EPA climate authority

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) released a “discussion draft” Wednesday afternoon that would permanently block the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to issue climate change regulations.

It’s the latest piece of legislation to limit EPA climate authority to be released in recent days. Earlier this week, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) released a similar, but more sweeping plan to prevent action on climate change and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) floated a bill to delay EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by two years.

The draft would "amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from promulgating any regulation concerning, taking action relating to, or taking into consideration the emission of a greenhouse gas due to concerns regarding possible climate change, and for other purposes." The draft is dated Feb. 2, with a time stamp of 5:05 p.m.

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Energy panel's energy subcommittee, will hold a hearing on the draft Feb. 9. Whitfield is a co-author of the draft.

The bills come as the Obama administration has suggested it will veto any bill that limits EPA’s climate authority.

“What has been stated from the White House is that the president’s advisers would advise him to veto any legislation that passed that would take away the EPA’s greenhouse gas authority,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Wednesday. “Nothing has changed.”

Top House Democrats launched a preemptive strike Wednesday night against the draft. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), ranking members of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Natural Resources Committee, respectively, released an early version of the discussion draft a short time before the actual draft was released. The early version of the draft is dated Feb. 1.

Waxman, in a statement, said, “The Republicans have a lot of power, but they can’t amend the laws of nature. Gutting the Clean Air Act is only going to make our problems worse.  This proposal threatens public health and energy security, and it undermines our economic recovery by creating regulatory uncertainty.”

The draft also got the attention of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) office, which criticized the proposal Wednesday, citing a new poll commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council that says 77 percent of Americans think “Congress (should) let the EPA do its job.”

This story was updated at 7:14 p.m.