Three Dems Back Effort to Halt Global Warming Regulation

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Domestic Issues

(AP Photo )

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is leading the charge to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gasses, and today she got some support from across the aisle: Three Democratic senators signed onto Murkowski resolution to bar such regulation.

The Democrats, the Associated Press reports, are Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Murkowski's resolution says a rule submitted by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gasses "shall have no force or effect." Thirty-five Republicans co-sponsored the measure.

"We should continue our work to pass meaningful energy and climate legislation, but in the meantime, we cannot turn a blind eye to the EPA's efforts to impose back-door climate regulations with no input from Congress," she said in introducing the resolution. The Alaska senator warned of "severe consequences to our economy" of such regulation, saying businesses would be forced to cut jobs.

Robert Dillon, a Murkowski spokesperson, told Hotsheet that "this isn't about health issues, this isn't about the science, the issue here is whether the EPA should be regulating greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act."

He said it was important to "remove the threat to the economy of EPA regulation and focus on what has to be done."

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, quickly shot back at the resolution.

As the Anchorage Daily News reports, Boxer called the effort an "unprecedented move to overturn a health finding by health experts and scientific experts in order to stand with the special interests."