Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) introduced legislation Thursday to suspend potential Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources, such as coal-fired power plants, for two years.

The legislation would give “Congress the time it needs to address an issue as complicated and expansive as our energy future. Congress, not the EPA, must be the ideal decision-maker on such a challenging issue” as energy and climate change legislation, he said.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) introduced companion legislation in the House, with Reps. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) cosponsoring the measure.

No stationary source will be required to obtain a permit or meet a new source performance standard under the CAA for two years after the legislation’s enactment. The legislation, however, would not block the EPA from moving forward on regulating carbon emissions from vehicles.

The Senate legislation comes two weeks after Rockefeller and seven other moderate Democrats from coal states sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson challenging the agency’s December endangerment finding, which held that carbon dioxide and other GHG emissions pose a danger to the public health and welfare (see Daily GPI, Feb. 23; Dec. 8, 2009). The finding provides the trigger for EPA to regulate GHG emissions under its CAA authority.

“Administrator Jackson responded quickly and showed some willingness to move the agency’s time table for regulation to [2011]. This is a positive change and good progress, but I am concerned it may not be enough. We must set this delay in stone and give Congress enough time to consider a comprehensive energy bill,” Rockefeller said.

In reply to the Democrats’ letter on Feb. 19, the EPA chief said that while the agency will adopt CAA regulations for GHG emissions this spring, it will delay implementation with respect to stationary sources until next January. The agency plans to phase in permit requirements and regulation of GHG emissions for large stationary sources beginning in early 2011.

“Rockefeller’s legislation is further evidence of the growing bipartisan and bicameral resistance to EPA’s backdoor climate regulations. Given the overwhelming opposition to these actions I’m hopeful that this bill will draw additional support and advance quickly,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who in January introduced a disapproval resolution that, if ratified by both houses, could negate EPA regulation of GHG emissions from stationary sources (see Daily GPI, Jan. 22).

If Rockefeller’s legislation does not garner support, “the disapproval resolution is guaranteed consideration in the Senate. It’s imperative that senators have an opportunity to vote on whether or not they support EPA’s costly, unilateral and unprecedented attempt to impose these command-and-control regulations,” she said.

Murkowski is expected to bring up the disapproval resolution, which has 41 sponsors, for a vote on the Senate floor by the middle of the month, said spokesman Robert Dillon. The resolution would only require 51 votes to pass the Senate, but getting it through the House will be more challenging.

A similar disapproval resolution to negate the endangerment finding was introduced in the House last week by Reps. Collin Peterson (D-MN), chairman of the Agriculture Committee; Ike Skelton (D-MO), chairman of the Armed Services Committee; and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), ranking member of the Appropriation’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (see Daily GPI, March 1).

Rockefeller’s bill “is just a Band-Aid on a broken bone,” said Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO). “We need a permanent bar to EPA circumventing Congress with job-killing and energy tax-raising backdoor cap-and-trade regulations.”

He said the Rockefeller bill would only delay by two years what will be inevitable job losses and energy price increases. “The only fix capable of protecting our families and workers is a legislative fix that takes this abuse away from EPA and keeps such decisions in the hands of the people’s representatives,” Bond noted.

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