GOP lawmaker wants to keep EPA from regulating carbon

An Alabama congressman wants to remove greenhouse gases from the list of air pollutants the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate so the agency has no authority to tackle climate change.

Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., introduced the Stop EPA Overreach Act Tuesday with 107 co-sponsors. The bill would amend the Clean Air Act to make sure the EPA could no longer regulate carbon dioxide emissions, commonly blamed by scientists for causing climate change.
"The Stopping EPA Overreach Act of 2015 will reassert that Congress never intended that the EPA would regulate greenhouse gases," Palmer said. "The EPA has repeatedly claimed fighting climate change as justification for crafting onerous regulations that limit carbon dioxide, water vapor and other compounds that are both essentially harmless and in fact required for life to flourish."

Palmer, a climate change doubter, added, "Congress never contemplated [the Clean Air Act] could be read to regulate such common and essential substances. This bill reasserts Congress's authority by prohibiting the EPA from unilaterally continuing to cause severe economic damage by regulating greenhouse gases."

The legislation is a reaction to the Clean Power Plan, a sweeping regulation from the EPA that seeks to slash carbon emissions from power plants. Many Republicans have taken issue with the plan, believing it to be an example of executive overreach.

Resolutions have been introduced in the House and Senate to block the Clean Power Plan. More than half the states in the country, and more than a dozen interest groups, have sued to block the plan.

The bill would require the EPA to analyze how any potential regulation would affect jobs. In addition, Congress and the president would need to sign off on a new regulation if a regulation were to hurt jobs.The EPA is legally prohibited from considering cost when it comes up with new regulations, though it often provides a financial estimate for costs and benefits of new regulation.

Palmer's bill also would make sure the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the Solid Waste Disposal Act do not authorize or require the regulation of greenhouse gases.