The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

May 26, 2010

Jay proposes two-year halt to EPA rules on emissions

By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter

BECKLEY — Talk is mushrooming on Capitol Hill of an impending vote on the so-called Murkowski resolution to reflect disapproval of the Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of greenhouse emission sources.

And that is moving Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to accelerate his push for more definite action — a proposed two-year hiatus for the EPA to regulate emissions at stationary sources as a safeguard for West Virginia’s coal industry.

Which means a hands-off attitude to coal mining installations and power plants, provided the Rockefeller bill clears Congress.

Rockefeller introduced his bill March 4, but so far, it hasn’t reached the floor of the Senate. Instead, it remains lodged in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The resolution, offered by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Minn., is aimed at gutting EPA’s “endangerment finding” that permits the agency to regulate greenhouse emissions under the Clean Air Act.

A showdown is planned June 10.

“I think my approach is more effective and has a better chance of becoming law,” Rockefeller said Tuesday in a statement issued by his office.

An aide said the senator spoke out, given the timing of the Murkowski resolution vote after the Senate returns from the Memorial Day weekend holiday break.

“The bottom line is, we cannot wait any longer to send the message that relying on EPA is the wrong way to go,” the senator said.

“The fate of our entire economy, our manufacturing industries and our workers should not be in the hands of the EPA.”

An aide to Rockefeller said the proposed legislation isn’t tied to coal mining permits still in limbo. Those remain under scrutiny with regard to potential conflicts with the Clean Water Act.

Rockefeller had gained a pledge from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson back in February that she would hold off on greenhouse emissions until the end of the year. But the senator protested this isn’t sufficient time.

“We must set this in stone and give Congress enough time to consider a comprehensive energy bill to develop the clean coal technologies we need,” he said.

“At a time when so many people are hurting, we need to put decisions about clean coal and our energy future into the hands of the people and their elected representatives, not a federal environmental agency.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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