Climate Change Bill dead for now
Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:16 pm
A climate change bill sponsored by John Kerry (D-Mass), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) was to have made its debut in the Senate Monday. In an effort to structure the bill to overcome a filibuster, its authors had combined caps on carbon emissions with expansion of off-shore oil and gas drilling, nuclear energy generation, and clean coal technology. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) called it a gas tax. Green Peace and Friends of the Earth called it a giveaway to polluting industries. Obama called it a job creator. Thankfully this nasty piece of legislation has gone up in flames as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved Immigration “Reform” (also called “Amnesty” by some and an important election year issue) to the front of the queue. Lindsey Graham would not stand for it and now the climate bill is dead, apparently for the rest of this Congress since members will soon be too busy campaigning to do any more legislating. Without Graham, lame ducks are unlikely to impress us with major climate legislation after November. Meanwhile the State of Arizona has taken matters into its own hands and enacted its own state statute under which it will enforce immigration laws that it believes the federal government is not enforcing. More good news: Reid is just talk. He does not have an immigration bill ready so the nation gets a double reprieve. Two prospective pieces of legislation sputter and die amidst campaign posturing. I will confess to experiencing a certain thrill upon witnessing this confusion and chaos. I think it’s an encouraging sign.
Before we break out the champagne, however, remember that there is more than one way to skin a cat as we saw when Obama’s EPA declared carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Sneaking up from the wings is “America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act” introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn) just in time for Earth Day.
The original Clean Water Act managed to pass constitutional muster by limiting its scope to “navigable” waters of the United States to justify federal jurisdiction under the Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause. Oberstar’s H.R. 5088 amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (aka Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251) “by striking ‘navigable waters of the United States’ each place it appears and inserting ‘waters of the United States.’’’ Lest any isolated mud puddle be accidentally left out of the expanded federal regulatory authority, “final authority regarding jurisdiction under this Act remains with the Administrator.”
A Senate version of this Clean Water bill, S. 787, cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last year but did not make it to the floor. Constant vigilance.
Before we break out the champagne, however, remember that there is more than one way to skin a cat as we saw when Obama’s EPA declared carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Sneaking up from the wings is “America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act” introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn) just in time for Earth Day.
The original Clean Water Act managed to pass constitutional muster by limiting its scope to “navigable” waters of the United States to justify federal jurisdiction under the Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause. Oberstar’s H.R. 5088 amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (aka Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251) “by striking ‘navigable waters of the United States’ each place it appears and inserting ‘waters of the United States.’’’ Lest any isolated mud puddle be accidentally left out of the expanded federal regulatory authority, “final authority regarding jurisdiction under this Act remains with the Administrator.”
A Senate version of this Clean Water bill, S. 787, cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last year but did not make it to the floor. Constant vigilance.