GOP considers plan to stymie new greenhouse gas rules at Senate markup

Senate Republicans may use a markup of EPA’s annual spending bill Thursday to try and block the agency from implementing new climate change rules.  

An amendment to thwart EPA could gain traction on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which includes five Democrats who have previously backed proposals to delay or scuttle limits on greenhouse gases from power plants and other sources.

Passage of the amendment would be a political setback for the Obama administration, even though a veto threat from the White House practically guarantees the language won’t make it into law.

A spokesman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a member of the panel who opposes EPA rules, said no decisions have been made yet about a potential amendment.

But sources contacted by The Hill said Murkowski has draft language in progress that would not allow EPA to spend any funds for one year on regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other stationary sources.

It’s not clear when Murkowski will return from Alaska, where she’s considering a write-in reelection campaign following her stunning GOP primary loss to Tea Party favorite Joe Miller. If she does not attend the EPA markup, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) will likely offer an amendment in her place, sources said. Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) may offer one as well.

When asked Monday whether he would offer an amendment on EPA, Bond said “we will look at all options” and “see what, if anything, we do.”

Robert Dillon, the Murkowski spokesman, said the Alaska senator remains concerned about the economic impact of new EPA regulations.

The Senate in June turned back, by a vote of 47-53, Murkowski’s plan to strip EPA of the power to regulate greenhouse gases. But three Democrats who voted for her proposal – Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Ben Nelson (Neb) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) – are also members of the Appropriations Committee.

Nelson, along with committee Democrats Tim Johnson (S.D.) and Byron Dorgan (N.D.), are co-sponsors of Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) bill that would delay EPA rules governing stationary industrial emitters for two years. Murkowski has shown interest in supporting Rockefeller’s two-year delay as well.

While it is not entirely clear what may be offered at the markup, appropriations riders are often written to block federal agencies from spending money to implement a policy for one year.

But they can be renewed – Congress blocked expanded offshore drilling for decades by limiting Interior Department leasing annually through spending bills. The bans were allowed to lapse in 2008.

Dorgan said he’s not aware of any amendment plans at the markup, but noted that he supports a pause in EPA’s rules, which begin kicking in for large emitters next year.

“I do think it makes sense to have some time here to have Congress make the ultimate decision, rather than EPA,” he said in the Capitol Monday.

Rockefeller has said that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised him a vote on his bill this year. Rockefeller said he would prefer a vote before the elections. “I just think generally it’s a better climate than the lame duck,” he told reporters Monday.

He said an appropriations bill could emerge as a vehicle for his proposal.

The White House opposes plans to stymie EPA’s climate rules, and environmental groups have made protecting EPA’s power their top goal now that climate change legislation has collapsed in the Senate. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently said that Obama would veto any attempt to delay EPA regulations.

Darren Goode contributed to this article.

This article was updated at 10:20 p.m.