House Republicans ask White House to kill climate rule

House Republicans who have spent a year pushing bills to thwart or delay Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas rules are trying a new tactic: simply asking the White House to scuttle them.

The Energy and Commerce Committee’s top Republicans on Wednesday asked the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to nix EPA’s upcoming greenhouse gas standards for new and modified coal-fired power plants.

OMB has been reviewing EPA's draft rules since early November, and they're slated for release soon.

“Further increasing electricity costs by requiring commercially unproven technologies, or forcing a transition away from coal, will send thousands more U.S. jobs overseas at a time when the nation can least afford it,” states a Feb. 1 letter from Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) to acting OMB Director Jeffrey Zients.

“We are concerned that EPA may intend to propose GHG standards for new and modified coal-fired power plants that could only be achieved through the use of costly technologies such as [carbon capture and sequestration],” adds the letter, also signed by former committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), who leads the Energy subcommittee.

EPA has pushed back against GOP and industry attacks on its plans, calling them inaccurate and arguing that it is taking measured steps to fight global warming. More broadly, EPA officials note that the Clean Air Act has a decades-long track record of cutting pollution without harming the economy.

Legislation blocking EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases cleared the GOP-led House in 2011 but hasn’t advanced in the Senate.

While EPA plans to float the draft power plant rules soon, a top official recently declined to commit to finalizing the regulations before the 2012 elections.