Murkowski's (R-Alaska) effort to block EPA on carbon emissions fails

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/politics/story/76012.html

Alaska senator's effort to block EPA on carbon emissions fails

By Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — The Senate declined Thursday to take up Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s effort to limit for a year the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, factories and other stationary sources of pollution.

Murkowski had sought to amend the Interior Department appropriations bill being considered Thursday by the U.S. Senate, but was blocked from bringing forward her proposal.

It would have forbidden the EPA from working to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and large manufacturers while the Senate continues to work on its own global warming proposal. It would not have prohibited the agency from continuing work on emission standards from mobile sources, such as automobile emissions.

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The proposal also drew the ire of environmentalists and clean air advocates, who launched a full-out assault on Murkowski’s amendment. Thursday, they were pleased the amendment failed to move forward.

"The Senate today stood with the vast majority of Americans who want the government to take action on global warming and reduce pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks," said Joe Mendelson, director of Global Warming Policy for the National Wildlife Federation. "We need action to reduce global warming pollution, repower America’s economy with millions of clean energy jobs, and break our dependence on oil."