Senate Makes Right Move Rejecting Resolution to Tie EPA's Hands

June 10, 2010

Republicans for Environmental Protection, a national grassroots organization, applauds the Senate for its rejection today of misguided legislation that would have barred the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
 
"The place to determine EPA's proper role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions is in a broad climate and energy bill, not in a premature, stand-alone measure that put the cart before the horse. Instead of thoughtfully determining EPA's proper role within the context of a climate bill, the resolution sought to preemptively tie EPA's hands," David Jenkins, REP vice president for government and political affairs, said.
 
"We call on the resolution's supporters who say Congress must take the lead on climate policy to offer constructive ideas for legislation so that Congress can do just that," Jenkins said.
 
"The worst part of this resolution was its nullification of EPA's scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. Regardless of how senators feel about EPA's proper role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions, there is no place for misguided legislation that substitutes politics for science," Jenkins said.
 
"We agree with former EPA Administrator Russell Train, who led the agency during the Nixon and Ford administrations, that the resolution would undermine the Clean Air Act, which declares that science, not politics, must determine when EPA acts against threats to public health," Jim DiPeso, REP vice president for policy and communications, said.
 
"We urge Republicans and Democrats to work together in good faith to craft balanced legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and put America on the path to a cleaner, more secure energy future," DiPeso said.