Sen. Shelley Moore Capito will be introducing legislation next week to allow states to avoid the “devastating impacts” of the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plant emission rules that are at the center of President Obama’s climate change agenda.
The West Virginia Republican briefly discussed the legislation during a Tuesday hearing she ran in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where she heads the clean air and nuclear safety panel. The hearing focused on the legal hurdles posed by the EPA emission rules, also known as the Clean Power Plan.
Capito’s state is leading a lawsuit with more than a dozen other states opposing EPA’s implementation of the Clean Power Plan. West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and other coal-dependent states argue that the emission rules were developed in a way that violates the Clean Air Act, encroaching on states’ rights and basic principles of federalism.
“Next week I will be introducing greenhouse gas legislation with my colleagues that will preserve the proper balance of state and federal authority, help ensure reliable and affordable electricity, and protect jobs and our economy,” Capito said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the committee to advance this bill and prevent the devastating impacts of continued EPA overreach.”
The Clean Power Plan establishes state-specific reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions. Many scientists say the emissions are the cause of manmade climate change, which is causing more severe weather, droughts and flooding.
Tuesday’s Senate hearing tracks with a similar course of hearings in the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year that examined legal impediments to the EPA rules ahead of legislation that would delay EPA’s implementation until all litigation has been settled.
The House bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act, also would allow states to opt out of compliance if they find the rule harms the reliable flow of electricity or raises energy prices. The bill was passed out of committee late last month and will move to the House floor for a vote in the coming weeks.
Observers suggest Capito’s legislation will mirror several aspects of the House bill, in an effort to get a bill through conference and move it to the president’s desk. Capito did not give details on the bill.
Even if the House and Senate succeeded in moving a bill to the president’s desk, there is little prospect of Obama actually signing it into law. The EPA plan is at the center of the administration’s agenda to combat the threat of climate change, and there is no indication the White House is willing to concede its agenda to the GOP by passing such a measure.
Many Democrats believe the House bill would seriously threaten the EPA measure by giving the states the ability to opt out of compliance without any judicial oversight or accountability.
