On the recordJune 10, 2010
I appreciate what Senator Murkowski is trying to do. Maybe this is a balance-of-power issue. The court ruled, I think in 2007, that greenhouse gases could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Senator Voinovich is right. Congress has never made that decision. There have been efforts in the past to get carbon pollution regulation by the Clean Air Act, but it was never passed legislatively. The courts have spoken. The tool being used today is a legislative tool available to the Congress to basically put regulatory powers in check, and what we are doing by passing this amendment is basically stopping the EPA from regulating carbon. And here is the real rub: If we stop them, are we going to do anything? My view is that we need to do several things to replace the EPA. The EPA regulation of carbon cannot provide transition assistance to businesses. They don't have the flexibility or the tools necessary to create rational energy policy. That would create an economic burden at a time we need to create economic opportunity. So I think the regulatory system of dealing with carbon pollution is the wrong way to go, but to do nothing would be equally bad. To do nothing means China is going to develop the green energy technology that is coming in the 21st century. What I propose is that the Congress, once we stop the EPA, create a rational way forward on energy policy that includes clean air and regulation of carbon.
