Rockefeller enters climate amendment fray, but Tuesday showdown doesn’t materialize

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said Tuesday evening that he’s offering his plan to block EPA climate change rules for two years as an amendment to small business legislation that’s currently on the Senate floor.

It’s competitor to a Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) amendment that would outright nullify EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases.

But while it initially appeared that the GOP plan was headed for a vote Tuesday, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) – the chairwoman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee – said there would not be votes this evening.

Rockefeller, who fears the impact of EPA rules on his coal-producing state, wants a reprieve from the rules but attacked the mostly GOP plan to nullify EPA’s power outright.

He took to the floor at argue against a “complete emasculation” of EPA and called his plan “more sensible.”

The path ahead for the amendments remains uncertain after the vote was scuttled Tuesday.