Sens. Manchin, Coats float bill to delay EPA rules

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Dan Coats (R-Ind.) introduced legislation Wednesday to delay implementation of two major Environmental Protection Agency air pollution regulations.

The bill, which also won the early support of Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), is the latest attempt by critics of the EPA to roll back the agency’s upcoming regulations.

But the legislation offers a more moderate approach, delaying the rules’ compliance deadlines rather than overturning the regulations outright. The bill would delay compliance with EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule by three years and the agency’s Utility MACT (maximum available control technology) rule by two years.

The cross-state rule is aimed at limiting harmful air pollution that crosses state lines. The Utility MACT, which has yet to be finalized, requires power plants to limit mercury and other air toxics.

The Manchin-Coats bill could provide Republicans and some centrist Democrats with the political cover necessary to vote against a resolution by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to overturn the cross-state rule, which reduces smog and particulate-forming pollution from power plants in 27 Eastern states.

Paul’s resolution is slated to come up for a floor vote in the Senate Thursday. Under a rarely used maneuver called the Congressional Review Act, the resolution needs 51 votes to pass.

The White House threatened to veto Paul’s resolution Tuesday. Paul’s resolution also faces resistance in the Senate, even from some Republicans.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) says he opposes Paul's effort.

He has introduced separate legislation with Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) that would keep EPA's cross-state rule in effect and write it into law, but give power companies an additional year to implement it. Alexander’s legislation is similar to the bill introduced Wednesday by Manchin and Coats in that it delays the compliance deadline for the cross-state rule.

"We often hear that it is the job of Congress, not the bureaucrats and courts, to set clean air rules. Our common sense legislation is an opportunity for Congress to do its job in a way that will clean the air at the lowest possible cost to ratepayers," Alexander and Pryor state in a letter to colleagues urging their support.

Both the cross-state and utility MACT rules face intense opposition from industry, which argues that the regulations will impose huge burdens on the economy and cost jobs.

But EPA says the rules will provide massive public health benefits, preventing tens of thousands of premature deaths each year.

Manchin, a centrist Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, is a long-time critic of the EPA and climate change legislation. In a campaign ad, the former West Virginia governor famously used a gun to shoot a hole into the House-passed cap-and-trade bill. Manchin faces reelection to the Senate next year.