Blanche Lincoln Supports Murkowski Motion of Disapproval

Democratic Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), left, has joined Senator Lisa A. Murkowski (R-Alaska), right, in a Republican effort to block EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases that negatively impact the Earth's climate. Senator Lincoln claims concern about the burden she perceives EPA regulation of carbon emissions could put on our economy. She also doubts the actual benefit EPA regulations would have on the environment. Lincoln also opposes the Boxer/Kerry cap-and-trade climate/energy bill currently pending in the Senate.

Under the currently proposed cap-and-trade legislation, farm groups favor a greater role for the Department of Agriculture, rather than the EPA. By declaring that greenhouse gases pose a public health hazard, the EPA places carbon emissions under the federal Clean Air Act.
Farm groups are watching for restrictions on farm practices or opportunities to take carbon from the air and tie it up in the ground whereby they could receive credit for such carbon offsets.

Other Democrats backing Murkowski's Motion of Disapproval include Sens. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb. (Watertown Daily Times, 1/22/10)