Start pricing inhalers for your kids. Patently un-green House Agriculture Committee Chairman Colin Peterson (MN-D), a self-proclaimed Blue Dog and fiscal conservative, lead the charge yesterday against the EPA's attempts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act. With the support of House Republicans and Blue Dog Dems, Peterson introduced a joint resolution to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency's "endangerment finding."
The AP reported yesterday
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri want to veto the EPA's finding in December that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, and that this calls for further rules restricitn emissions from cars, power plants and factories.
Their resolution, co-sponsored by Missouri Republican Jo Ann Emerson, mirrors one drafted by Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and backed by 41 senators from both parties. At least three states and a host of business groups also have challenged the EPA finding, which sets the stage for future rules restricting emissions from cars, power plants and factories.
Peterson, who has long been no friend of the EPA, also contested the Agency's attempts to investigate bio-fuels' impact on land cultivation in 2009. Claiming such a study would "kill off" the U.S. corn-based ethanol program, Peterson said of the EPA , "You can't trust them. I no longer have any confidence in the EPA."
Peterson's resolution, having immediately been dubbed the "Dirty Air Act" by environmental and public health lobbysists is already causing uproar. Many major U.S. medical organizations, including the American Association of Pediatrics, and the American College of Preventative Medicine have drafted a letter to the Senate urging the endangerment findings of the EPA be protected and upheld. |
