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EPA Regulations Take Center Stage in Congressional Budget Showdown

By Shannon Crawford posted 04-19-2011 12:24 PM

  
EPA regulations were at the forefront of the tense budget talks that took place last week on the Hill. Budget talks lasted until the eleventh hour last week as Democrats and Republicans attempted to reach a compromise that would avoid a government shutdown.

Both Chambers voted on legislation last week that would have prevented EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases. These votes essentially acted as test votes to see if similar policy riders would survive in the larger budget bill. The Senate easily defeated all language that would have hamstrung EPA’s authority, while the House easily passed all language removing EPA’s authority.

On Wednesday, April 6, 2011, the Senate defeated a series of measures that attempted to stifle EPA’s regulatory authority over greenhouse gases. In all four separate amendments were offered to the Small Business legislation, S. 493 that would have delayed or prevented EPA moving forward with GHG regulations.
  • Defeated 50-50 was a measure offered by Senators Inhofe (R-OK) and McConnell (R-KY) that would have vetoed the EPA’s endangerment finding which is the legal basis for all of their GHG rules. Without this finding all EPA climate rules, The Light Duty Vehicle Rule and the Tailoring Rule would be null and void.
  • Defeated 7-93 was a measure offered by Senator Stabenow (D-MI) which would have delayed EPA GHG Rules for a period of two years, as well as limiting California’s ability to set their own emissions standards.
  • Defeated 7-93 was a measure offered by Senator Baucus (D-MO) which would have prevented EPA GHG regulations from applying to small businesses and to the agricultural sector.
  • Defeated 12-88 was a measure offered by Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) that would have delayed GHG regulations for stationary sources for a period of two years.
On Thursday, April 7, 2011, the House passed the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, HR 910. This bill would strip EPA of their ability to regulate greenhouse gases and would nullify the following EPA Regulations:
  • The Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule
  • The Tailoring Rule
  • The Endangerment Finding
  • The determination that the following gases are considered “air pollutants”: Water vapor, Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Sulfur hexafluoride, Hydrofluorocarbons and Perfluorocarbons.
With both chambers disagreeing on the legislation, Congress decided to remove the policy riders from the budget bill. However, this does not appear to be the end of the battle over EPA’s authority. Many analysts are predicting that when Congress takes up the Fiscal Year 2012 bill, the same debate will start back up.

SWANA will continue to monitor this legislation and will provide members with details as they develop.
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