4 March 2010-- West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller introduced legislation to suspend Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation of greenhouse gases from stationary sources such as coal- and natural gas-fired plants for two years. Three House representatives from West Virginia and Virginia are introducing similar legislation.
Rockefeller said the legislation would give Congress two years to consider climate change legislation before EPA can take any regulatory action. It also says that no stationary sources should be subject to any requirement to obtain a permit or meet a new source performance standard under the Clean Air Act with respect to carbon or methane, except for motor vehicle emissions standards.
"This legislation … (gives) Congress the time it needs to address an issue as complicated and expansive as our energy future," Sen. Rockefeller said. "Congress, not the EPA, must be the ideal decision-maker on such a challenging issue."
Sen. Rockefeller also said Jackson said the EPA is moving forward with the motor vehicle emissions standard but would hold off on stationary source regulations until the end of 2010, with the phase-in beginning in 2011.
