The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is pleased that the U.S. Senate defeated the Murkowski Resolution designed to take away the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. We are pleased that all four Senators from Maryland and Virginia—Senators Cardin, Mikulski, Warner and Webb–voted against it. We wish that all Senators, from both parties, had done so.
Gutting the EPA of authority to regulate greenhouse gases is wrong in a Senate resolution, wrong in the Waxman-Markey House climate bill, and wrong in the Kerry-Lieberman Senate climate bill. We encourage all concerned citizens and organizations to oppose this step on all occasions and in all forms.
The Senate must move immediately to pass the strongest possible climate legislation that actually caps and puts a price on carbon, auctions all emissions permits, prohibits offsets and Wall Street involvement, and returns most of the money raised from the auction to the American people. Such legislation, embodied in the CLEAR Act co-sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell and Susan Collins, would address, through its clarity and certainty, many of the concerns that some Senators currently have over the EPA’s role in regulating greenhouse-gas emissions.
While Senator Collins voted the wrong way on the Murkowski resolution Thursday, her reasons given were related to EPA regulation of bio-mass energy, not oil or coal. She simultaneously reiterated on the Senate floor her support of the CLEAR Act, which – again – would clarify the EPA’s role within an effective, fair, and durable carbon cap.
Susan Collins continues to be the only Republican who has co-sponsored comprehensive climate legislation and who has worked to build support for it. As the process of finding 60 votes to support climate legislation in the Senate moves forward, we look forward to her continued leadership role.