PHIL KERPEN and BEN MARCHI GUEST COLUMNISTS
Published In The Richmond Times-Dispatch Op/Ed Section
June 9, 2010

ARLINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency is intent on shoehorning vast, costly global warming regulations into the 1970 Clean Air Act. Congress has been content to look the other way and allow it to happen, but tomorrow every senator will be on the record. That’s when the Senate will vote on a resolution introduced by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (SJ Res. 26) that would overturn the EPA’s global warming regulations. It’s privileged and not subject to filibuster. There is no place for weak-kneed senators to hide. After the vote we’ll know where every member of the Senate stands, including Jim Webb and Mark Warner.

The EPA is out to regulate cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, planes, trains, ships, boats, tractors, mining equipment, RVs, lawn mowers, fork lifts, and just about everything else that has a motor in it. And because there is no control technology for greenhouse gases, the EPA would require complete redesigns and operational changes. It would also regulate stationary sources, including commercial kitchens that use natural gas as a cooking fuel and, eventually, even large single-family homes.

The Democrats have a huge majority in the Senate, but many Democrats will not walk the party line on this one. To start, three Democrats are co-sponsors of Murkowski’s resolution: Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), and Mary Landrieu (La.).

And at least one more key Democrat, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, has also expressed his concerns about what the EPA is doing. He said: “We cannot wait any longer to send the message that relying on EPA is the wrong way to go. The fate of our entire economy, our manufacturing industries, and our workers should not be in the hands of EPA.“

The stakes here in Virginia are huge and Virginia officials are adamant the regulations are unworkable. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli warned that “every Virginian will take an economic beating if [the EPA decision] goes forward.“ He insisted that “we cannot allow unelected bureaucrats with political agendas to use falsified data to regulate American industry and drive our economy into the ground.“

We know the vote is tomorrow. It will be a clean, up-or-down vote on the Senate floor—a yes to stop the EPA power grab, or a no to look the other way and let it happen.

Regardless of the outcome, we’ll learn where Webb and Warner stand. Will they vote to say a rogue agency can short-circuit the legitimate legislative process, disregard public opinion, and impose its own constraints on the Virginia economy? Or will they take responsibility as the legitimately elected legislative branch of government and rein in the EPA by voting yes on SJ Res. 26? We’ll find out tomorrow.

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Phil Kerpen is vice president for policy and Ben Marchi is Virginia state director at Americans for Prosperity, which is on the web at http://www.RegulationReality.com.

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