Environmentalists push back against Rockefeller

Environmental advocates are pushing back against efforts by Sen. Jay Rockefeller and others to keep EPA from regulating greenhouse gases for two years.

Joe Mendelson, director of Global Policy at the National Wildlife Federation, says the West Virginia Democrat “has taken a wrong turn by introducing this attack on the Clean Air Act, one of our nation's most effective and proven laws in protecting our air quality and public health.”

“The senator’s bill would handcuff our lead environmental agency’s ability to tackle our biggest environmental problem and allow unlimited growth in global warming pollution,” Mendelson said in a statement.

Environment America Federal Global Warming Program Director Emily Figdor said the bill would “postpone the creation of clean energy jobs and long-overdue action to hold America’s biggest polluters accountable.”

And Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch said the bill could also have the unintended consequence of stopping federal and state regulators from limiting methane pollution to reduce smog.

Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, opposes the effort for a different reason: it doesn’t go far enough.

“This legislation is just a band-aid on a broken bone,” he said in a statement.