House Committee Passes Bill to Block EPA’s Authority to Regulate Greenhouse Gases

On March 15, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed H.R. 910 , a bill intended to strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its authority to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs). Authored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), the bill cleared its second legislative hurdle on a 34-19 vote, after the Energy and Power Subcommittee approved passage days earlier on a voice vote. Three Democrats, Reps. John Barrow (D-GA), Jim Matheson (D-UT), and Mike Ross (D-AR), joined a unanimous Republican voting bloc. Specifically, the bill would repeal the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding” that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a threat to human health, and bar the agency from implementing rules to control them. A floor vote on H.R. 910 is expected later this spring.

In related news, several Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced amendments to the Upton bill intended to put Congress on record as either supporting or denying the science of climate change. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) introduced an amendment to H.R. 910 that Congress accept the EPA’s finding that global warming is unequivocal, which failed on a party-line vote 31-20. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) offered an amendment that stated Congress accepts the EPA’s finding that “the scientific evidence is compelling” that man-made emissions “are the root cause of recently observed climate change.” That measure also failed by the same margin. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) also offered an amendment that Congress accept EPA’s finding that climate change threatens human health. It was defeated 31-21. The three Democrats who voted in favor of H.R. 910, Reps. Ross, Matheson, and Barrow, voted in favor of all three amendments.

On the Senate side, similar legislation to block EPA's GHG authority was introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as an amendment to a small business bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) indicated he would schedule a vote for the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Reauthorization Act of 2011 (S. 493), despite the inclusion of the amendment, but the date has yet to be determined.

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