In a sharp contrast to new polls which indicate that a clear majority of Americans want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate CO2, on February 19th, 2011 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill that would prohibit the EPA from measuring or regulating CO2 emissions. H.R. 1 will now go to the U.S. Senate for approval.

"What was supposed to be a “continuing resolution” to fund the government through the end of this fiscal year is instead an all out assault on government, and the public health safeguards most Americans want government to enforce, at the behest of big polluters and anti-science ideologues," stated Dan Lashof, Climate Center director for the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC, Washington D.C., U.S.), a national non-profit environmental organization.

"This is probably the single most irresponsible bill I have seen either Chamber of Congress pass in the more than 20 years I have been in Washington."

Bill passes 235-189 with no support from Democrats

As a result of three amendments sponsored by lawmakers from the Republican Party, the bill would prevent the EPA from collecting data on which facilities are releasing CO2 and how much is released, would prohibit the EPA from setting any limits on emissions of carbon dioxide or other pollutants for any reason, and would bar the United States from contributing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Environmental New Service reports that the bill would also cut funding to the EPA by one-third.

Votes for the spending bill fell 235-189 on partisan lines, with no Democrats voting for the bill and only three Republicans voting against it. The U.S. Republican Party, which gained a majority in the House of Representatives in the November 2010 elections, is opposed to government regulation of CO2 and U.S. President Barack Obama's agenda in general.

Public opinion strongly opposed to actions, even in Republican districts

The bill is a sharp contrast to public opinion as measured in recent polls by the NRDC and the American Lung Association. In a poll of 1021 voters from February 7th - 14th 2011 commissioned by the American Lung Association, 77% supported stricter limits on CO2, and 64% said that Congress should not stop the EPA from regulating CO2.

On February 10th, 2011 the NRDC released the results of a poll of residents of the districts of all nine members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, showing that the majority of constituents favored EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. In the districts of the six Republican members of the committee, between 56% and 72% polled opposed the proposal by Committee Chair Fred Upton to stop the EPA from limiting CO2 emissions.

SEIA reports measure to end loan guarantees for renewable energy projects

Also, On February 15th 2011 the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reported that U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was mobilizing Senators to oppose a measure in the bill that would end U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantees for renewable power projects. Solar Server staff were not able to find out by press time if that provision remained in the bill.

Even if some or all of these measures are stopped by the U.S. Senate, an emboldened Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives appears ready to continue to attack the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases, renewable energy incentives and environmental policy in general.

2011-02-22| Courtesy: National Resources Defense Council, U.S. House of Representatives, American Lung Association; Foto: Representative John Boehner | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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