By James Bruggers
FRANKFORT, Ky — The House passed a resolution on Tuesday that calls on Congress to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating heat-trapping gases.
A similar resolution was introduced Monday in the Senate by Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard. Neither would have the force of law.
The Kentucky action comes the same week the EPA laid out its timetable for regulating greenhouse gasses if Congress doesn’t pass legislation to help reduce risks from potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change.
The Obama administration says the science is clear that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants endanger public health and welfare, and that it is compelled to regulate them under a 2007 Supreme Court decision.
However, Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, the lead sponsor of House Resolution 132, argued that “the science is not settled” and called on lawmakers to “stand up and say, ‘Wait a minute’.”
He said EPA action would “totally disrupt the American economy.” Gooch, who chairs the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, is the vice president of a construction company that works with coal companies and is among the staunchest supporters of the coal industry in Frankfort.
Kentucky depends on coal for more than 90 percent of its electricity, and is the nation’s third leading coal-producing state.
The vote was 76-16, with eight members not voting. Among those dissenting in House were some of the Democratic legislators from Louisville and Lexington.
Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, said hundreds of millions of people in the world are already affected by floods, droughts and wind storms brought on by climate change.
“We know from scientific research that we need to do something about this,” he said, making a case for moving forward with “green jobs” through renewable and alternative energy sources.
“We’ve got to be thinking about our children and our grandchildren,” said Tom Burch, D-Louisville.
Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, voted against the resolution and said something must be done someday about global warming, but that Kentucky’s coal-based economy is not ready for change.
But Gooch’s argument won the day. “We can’t allow the EPA to usurp Congress,” he said, adding that any regulations would be detrimental to Kentucky’s economy.
The resolution comes amid growing unease over whether the nation can afford to curb greenhouse gas emissions during a recession.
Several Democratic senators in Washington recently sent a letter challenging EPA authority on greenhouse gas emissions to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. It was signed by Democrats Mark Begich of Alaska, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Carl Levin of Michigan and Max Baucus of Montana.
The Democrats said they did not object to EPA regulation of emissions from cars and light trucks, but questioned the agency’s ability to do anything further under the Clean Air Act.
Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, supports an effort by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to get Congress to pass a resolution curbing EPA authority over greenhouse gases.
Jackson, in a letter dated Feb. 22, to Rockefeller, said she shares his goal of “ensuring economic recovery” and that the EPA was working on “addressing greenhouse-gas emissions in sensible ways that are consistent with the call for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.”
She said the EPA anticipates phasing in requirements for large industrial sources like power plants in 2011 and that the EPA does not intend to regulate the smallest sources of greenhouse gas emissions any sooner than 2016.
If Congress were to block the EPA, Jackson wrote that it “would be viewed by many as a vote to move the United States to a position behind that of China on the issue of climate change, and more in line with the position of Saudi Arabia.”
