Democrats Plan to Neuter EPA's Climate Regs

[Willinois]

This is a reminder that we can't merely blame Republicans for the lack of a climate change bill for the first two years of Obama's term. Harry Reid didn't bring the bill to a vote because he knew that some Democrats wouldn't support it.

It's not over-dramatic to say that this disgusting action puts the safety and future of our entire nation at risk. These cowardly corporate stooges are the ones who kept a climate change bill from passing Congress, and now they claim EPA should be stopped from regulating CO2 while the Senate continues to obstruct for another two years.

We have a limited amount of time to take action before the Earth reaches tipping points. The cost of delay will be measured in more catastrophic blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, food shortages, disease epidemics, and other climate disasters. Lives are at stake while they play games.

Democrats Plan to Neuter EPA's Climate Regs
— By Kate Sheppard
| Tue Feb. 1, 2011 1:48 PM PST

Quote:West Virginia Democrat Sen. Jay Rockefeller on Tuesday re-introduced his legislation that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act for the next two years. Rockefeller offered the same bill last year, though it never went to a vote. This time he's joined by six other Democrats who are calling for a temporary time-out on the EPA regulations that began phasing in on Jan. 2.

Democrats Jim Webb (Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Tim Johnson (SD), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Kent Conrad (ND) have signed on as co-sponsors to Rockefeller's bill. Their statement calls for granting Congress "enough time" to pass a climate bill, rather than regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. (Not mentioning, of course, that it's now been four years since the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could and should start this process, in the absence of a new climate-specific law.)

"We must give Congress enough time to consider a comprehensive energy bill to develop the clean coal technologies we need and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, protect West Virginia and improve our environment," said Rockefeller in a statement. "We can address emissions and secure a future for the U.S. coal industry, but we need the time to get it right and to move clean coal technology forward."