House panel passes bill to delay, weaken EPA climate rule

Shipping coal to China could wipe out the benefits of Obama’s climate-change policy
▻http://www.macleans.ca/authors/luiza-ch-savage/america-plans-to-ship-coal-supplies-to-china

U.S. coal exports have already been growing, from five per cent of production in 2000 to 12 per cent in 2013, or 118 million tons, according to the EIA. Environmentalists warn that emissions from that volume of coal would dwarf the savings from Obama’s new power plant rule. They won’t count toward America’s national tally, but they’ll enter the global atmosphere all the same.

cf. ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/229913

Obama delays key power plant rule of signature climate change plan
▻http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/16/obama-epa-climate-change-power-plant-rule-delay

In a conference call with reporters, the Environmental Protection Agency said it was extending the public comment period on the power plant rules for an additional 45 days, until 1 December.

The delay follows heavy lobby by Republicans and industry lobby groups to delay the rule – or withdraw it outright. Fifteen governors had called on Obama and the EPA to withdraw the proposed regulations, which would cut carbon pollution from existing power plants.

U.S. Clean Power Rules Delayed
▻http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-clean-power-rules-delayed

All three rules, which together form the main thrust of the Obama administration’s unprecedented effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, will now be released “midsummer,” McCabe said.

[...] Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said scaling back EPA’s climate change regulations will be a top Republican priority this year.

House panel passes bill to delay, weaken EPA climate rule
▻http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/240494-house-panel-passes-bill-to-delay-weaken-epa-climate-rule

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted Wednesday to delay the Obama administration’s landmark climate rule for power plants and let states opt out of complying with it.

[...]

The committee voted, largely along party lines, to reject numerous Democratic amendments. They included amendments that would have required that state governors certify that rejecting compliance plans would not hurt public health or that the effects of climate change would not cost more than complying with the rule.

Senate Votes to Block Obama’s Climate Change Rules
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/us/politics/senate-blocks-obamas-climate-change-rules.html

The Senate resolution, which passed 52 to 46, would scuttle a rule that would significantly cut heat-trapping carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. That Environmental Protection Agency rule, released in August, is the centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s efforts to address climate change. A second resolution, which also passed 52 to 46, would strike a related E.P.A. rule intended to freeze construction of future coal-fired power plants.

[...]

If the resolutions reach the president’s desk, Mr. Obama has promised a veto.

[...]

The strength of the American position at the [Paris] talks lies in the enactment of the emission-curbing E.P.A. rule — the first major climate change policy put forth by the United States. By voting to block the rule, lawmakers want to telegraph to the world that Congress does not back the president’s climate pledges.