In their first attempt to stop the Obama administration’s plan to address climate change by imposing additional regulations on coal-fired power plants, U.S. Senate Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
Lead sponsor Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the bill will be the “principal legislative vehicle” to halt proposed greenhouse gas emission regulations that she and other Congressional Republicans claim will cost billions and jeopardize hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“We’re asking for a common sense agreement that assures reliable and affordable energy, protects our economy and jobs and allows states to make their own decisions,” she said Wednesday during a call with reporters.
The EPA’s plan, which was proposed last June and is expected to go into effect this summer, calls for nationwide cuts to greenhouse gas emissions over the next five years. It also requires states to gradually reduce emissions 30 percent by 2030. Opponents claim those requirements will purposefully shift the nation’s energy market away from coal, which is used to produce about 40 percent of electricity in America.
Part of President Barack Obama’s pledge to curb pollution from coal-fired power plants, the plan has seen political opposition from state and federal lawmakers who have termed it “far-reaching.” A 15-state coalition led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey also has sued the EPA, questioning the legality of its plan.
The bill, called the Affordable Reliable Energy Now Act, would block the proposed regulations and make it nearly impossible for the EPA to write similar rules without first meeting Congressional requirements.
Hailed as a bipartisan effort, the bill is co-sponsored by 25 other republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. It also has the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Capito said Manchin and McConnell will be instrumental in getting the bill past a Senate vote, which usually is split along party lines, 54-46.
“I’ll be leaning on you,” Capito said of Manchin, who is considered a moderate often courted by both parties on crucial votes.
Capito later said she hopes Manchin’s support of the bill will encourage enough Democrats to sign on to give it 60 votes. While only 51 votes are needed to pass a bill, it takes 60 to end a filibuster.
Whether Manchin can whip up enough votes remains to be seen, but Republicans are certain the bill will pass the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, a panel Capito is part of and one chaired by Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who notoriously threw a snowball across the Senate floor in February as a gesture against the scientific community’s conclusion that man-made greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change.
Capito said she expects there to be a “robust” discussion when the bill reaches the Senate floor. Should it pass both legislative chambers, Obama still could veto the bill. That doesn’t have Capito concerned though.
“I’m not thinking about what he might do,” she said. “I’m focused on what I can do.”
Should the plan pass judicial review, Capito’s bill would allow states to opt out if a governor determines state or federal regulations would negatively impact economic growth or raise consumer electricity prices. Other key provisions include extending the deadline for states to submit compliance plans, prohibiting the EPA from withholding highway funds for non-compliant states and requiring technology-based standards to be tested and achieved for at least one year before implementation.
It also would require the EPA to issue state-specific plans demonstrating how each state could meet required emission reductions, a provision that seems to contradict Capito’s call for more state authority over regulations, but one she said would not.