Greens gird for GOP’s ‘scary’ environmental agenda

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said it’s preparing for a tough fight against the Republican Party’s environmental policy plans.

The group’s leaders said their priority would be to defend President Obama’s climate policies and other environmental plans.

{mosads}“The Republican agenda on the environment and energy is scary,” David Goldston, NRDC’s top lobbyist, told reporters Tuesday.

“It’s scary because they’re not suggesting some kind of middle ground.”

Goldston’s comments were in reaction to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who told the Washington Post that he doesn’t “want the American people to think that if they add a Republican president to a Republican Congress, that’s going to be a scary outcome.”

But Goldston said that Republicans want to prevent Obama from doing anything to tackle climate change — whether it is the climate rule announced last year or any other policy — which should scare people.

“Both Sen. McConnell and Speaker Boehner made clear that their goal is not to come up with an alternative,” Goldston said. “It’s to make sure that the Environmental Protection Agency can’t do anything on climate.”

But David Doniger, director of NRDC’s climate program, said Congress can’t do much damage to Obama’s rules.

“The majority in Congress promised bills to try to stop this,” Doniger said of the climate rule.

“We don’t think that they have the votes to pass those bills through the Senate. They certainly don’t have to votes to override vetoes.”

Obama has also identified the climate rule as a top priority, so he is not likely to sign a bill with provisions attached that would weaken it, Doniger predicted.