Posted on 12/22/2010 1:20:53 PM PST by neverdem
The Obama administration is expected to roll out a major greenhouse gas policy for power plants and refineries as soon as Wednesday, signaling it won’t back off its push to fight climate change in the face of mounting opposition on Capitol Hill.
The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to a schedule for setting greenhouse gas emission limits, known as “performance standards,” for the nation’s two biggest carbon-emitting industries, POLITICO has learned.
Under the schedule agreed to by EPA, states and environmental groups, the agency will issue a draft greenhouse gas performance standard for power plants by July 2011 and a final rule by May 2012. The agreement – which comes after states and environmentalists challenged the George W. Bush administration’s failure to set the standards – requires EPA to issue a draft limit for refineries by Dec. 2011 and a final rule by Nov. 2012.
The White House Office of Management and Budget has signed off on the schedule, according to a litigant in the legal fight.
The standards are part of a series of climate rules from the Obama administration that have faced fierce opposition from industry groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And while the policies won’t go final for more than a year, the political ramifications will come immediately.
They will come as welcome news to environmentalists who want the administration to flex its regulatory muscle following the death of climate legislation this year, but EPA can expect its foes on the right to blast the move as another example of regulatory overreach.
GOP lawmakers slated to claim the gavels of powerful House committees next year have already vowed to launch probes into a host of EPA regulations – including the administration’s suite of climate change rules – arguing that the regulations will further damage the already ailing economy.
Starting Jan. 2, EPA will begin regulating large stationary sources of the heat-trapping emissions, but those requirements only apply to new and upgraded facilities and will be determined on a case-by-case basis, so it’s unclear how deeply they will slash emissions. The forthcoming standards would set industry-specific standards and could require some of the oldest, dirtiest facilities to clamp down on carbon dioxide.
The agreement doesn’t specify what type of requirements EPA will impose on the industries, but environmentalists say the rules have the potential to require substantial emission reductions in existing facilities while offering industry the type of regulatory certainty it’s been calling for.
EPA’s schedule could also likely impact a high-profile climate lawsuit pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case American Electric Power v. Connecticut, power companies are challenging a lower court ruling that allowed states and environmental groups to move ahead with a public nuisance lawsuit seeking to force the utilities to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama administration attorneys asked the court in August to vacate the appeals court's judgment, arguing that in part that EPA was already moving forward with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which undercut the need for nuisance lawsuits. The attorneys said EPA was “evaluating” whether to include greenhouse gases in performance standards.
States and environmental groups involved in the case argued that EPA’s evaluation wasn’t good enough because the agency hasn’t formally taken action to limit emissions from existing sources. However, they said their claims for relief under nuisance lawsuits would be displaced if such rules were finalized.
It’s unclear how EPA’s announced schedule will affect the Supreme Court case, which is expected to be argued before the rules go final.
EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said, "We have nothing to announce at this time. But as we have made clear any regulatory decisions will be guided by sound science and stakeholder input, and encourage deployment of clean technology, while cutting greenhouse gas pollution and providing certainty to key industries in this country."
Its beyond that now. These two traitors and grifters are destroying thenation and the GOP could care less.
Congress gave them all the authority they exercise, Congress has ABSOLUTE authority over everything they do, and Congress can repeal the Environmental Protection Act (which created the problem) by a simple majority vote.
I am no longer interested in any Member of Congress who does not support repeal.
"Defunding" them is stupid.
Repeal the law, the problem ceases to exist.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for the GOP to do anything about it.
Have one senator and one congressman insert an amendment into any (all?) legislation that states something like the following:
“No government agency, organization, or entity created by Congress shall have legislative or judicial powers. For the purpose of this amendment, “legislative power” shall be construed to mean the making of any rule violation of which renders a citizen of any state or the United States to imprisonment, fine, or other punishment. “Judicial power” shall be construed to mean, the holding of any evidentiary hearing not presided over by an Article III court or the issuance of findings which result in imprisonment, fine, or punishment of a citizen of any state or the United States.”
Zero their budget in January. Pretty simple stuff.
I can't speak about the EPA grab, but the GOP is definitely gonna fight the FCC. Go read this. No reason they couldn't do the same thing with the EPA.
The Congressional Review Act will be a powerful tool for the GOP.
Screw that. Overturn Wickard v Filburn and de-authorize them.
Is this more evidence of the belief that Obama will NOT moderate in order to win reelection? Or will he keep up the leftism till the last possible moment, and then do a few token things which seem centrist, right before the election? /half-rhetorically
That will seem minor when the $213 that you actually pay for the services jumps by 50%...
Or when you flip the switch and the lights don't come on...
"Double Down"
Obama loves that phrase, he uses it all the time.
He's going to "wee wee up" the country, no matter what we say.
Time to "double down" on bringing the EPA to its knees.
De-fund EPA.
Burn them for extra energy.
Repealing the law is a non-starter. Such a move would be dead in the Senate. It would not even be brought for a vote.
CO2 emitted from instect respiration ~50 billion tons.
What are the chances EPA will deploy DDT to mitigate the CO2 emissions from insects?
Then it needs to be a matter if it will, or they will.
Yes.
Agreed. The clean air act has become a mantra, even though it was designed over 30 years ago, to deal with the environmental issues of 30+ years ago. In that time - virtually all of those issues have been resolved. There are a few things here and there but in general - we have the cleanest environment in any industrialized nation.
The longer the CAA is allowed to dictate expansions in our economy the longer we will be in a recession or bleeding jobs overseas. Until that is fixed we will be applying 1970's approaches to 2010 issues and killing jobs for little or no environmental improvement...
It's amazing to me how few of us see it for what it is.
They are far too busy racing to vote to implement the rest of the usurper's America hating agenda.
It is not only that they could care less, many of the GOP Seantors are helping them.
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