Inhofe & Barrasso Unveil Bill To Prevent GHG Regulation

Senator John Barrasso’s (R-Wyom), left, is the lead sponsor of a new bill that would prevent the federal government from regulating greenhouse gases or or applying them to laws, such as the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. His 10 co-sponsors thus far include Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and a potential 2012 White House contender, and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The Center opposes this legislation and the Inhofe/Upton Legislation.  The Center believes the EPA regs will improve the economy by opening up innovative entrepreneurial solutions to GHG reductions. We believe EPA is using a moderate approach to stem emissions.  The Center is calling for a much faster and broader approach.  We would like to see an aggressive cap-and-trade program implemented.  The Center is registered in EPA's very successful Acid Rain and NOx cap-and-trade programs.  The Center is also registered in the Northeastern Regionional  Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).  The Center has a CO2 trading house ready to participate in a Congressional mandated or regulatory required cap-and-trade program via our Carbon Mercantile Exchange (CMX)

The bill’s findings claim that controlling emissions would harm the economy, and also include a nod to skepticism about climate science, noting that Earth’s climate is “dynamic” and that changes stem from a “complex combination of factors.”

The bill is broadly written in an effort to not only block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from directly regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, but also to prevent federal agencies from considering climate change when implementing statutes such as the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.  The bill would not upend existing joint standards for vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions that the EPA and the Transportation Department jointly administer. But those rules would only be managed by the Transportation Department. (The Hill, 1/31/2011)