Auto alliance opposes Murkowski on EPA greenhouse gas regs

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is officially opposed to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) effort to block EPA from regulating greenhouse gases through a congressional resolution of disapproval.

The Alliance, which includes 11 major carmakers, worries the resolution to overturn EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare would derail an agreement reached with the Obama administration on higher fuel efficiency standards. The so-called endangerment finding is the legal underpinning of EPA's efforts to regulate carbon emissions.

Automakers like the agreement they reached with the administration because it allows them to operate under one federal standard and not the “patchwork quilt” of state fuel efficiency regulations they feared.

“At this time last year, the auto industry faced the alarming possibility of having to comply with multiple sets of inconsistent fuel economy standards,”  Alliance President and CEO Dave McCurdy wrote Murkowski in a letter sent today. 

Auto lobbyists have lobbied for weeks against the resolution, but the Alliance had not officially stated its position. The group also opposed an earlier effort by Murkowski to block funding for the EPA rulemaking effort, and enviromental groups had urged them to weigh in against the resolution as well.

If Murkowski’s resolution was successful, “the historic agreement creating the One National Program for regulating vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions would collapse,” McCurdy wrote.

Separately, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has introduced legislation to delay EPA from acting for two years, in order to give Congress more time to adopt carbon limits on its own in a comprehensive energy and climate bill. Murkowski has said she also supports Rockefeller’s measure.

A big difference is the legislation would only block EPA from regulating so-called stationary sources, like power plants and large industrial sites. Its backers say that the bill would not conflict with the tailpipe standards the automakers and the administration negotiated.

This post was updated at 5:28.