Republicans attempt to stifle action on climate change

Republicans have wasted no time in using their new majority in Congress to try to block the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to act on climate change. In their first full day in the new Congress, Republicans outlined three different bills–encapsulating three different strategies–aimed at limiting the powers of the EPA. It also shut down a house committee that had tackled energy and climate issues. The first, introduced by Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, would declare that greenhouse gas emissions are not subject to the Clean Air Act - even though supreme court ruled in 2007 that they are. The second, introduced by Ted Poe of Texas, would block funding to any government agency associated with cap-and-trade. The third, introduced by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, is relatively modest, seeking a two-year delay in EPA regulation of carbon dioxide and methane emissions. But that could make it the most likely to succeed. In the Senate, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller, has been calling for a bill to delay EPA action on climate change.