Vote Looms in Senate on Controversial EPA Regulation of Greenhouse Gases

by E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D.
National Spokesman
The Cornwall Alliance

The U.S. Senate is likely to vote today on a measure that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gases. This is an amendment, by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to a small-business technology funding bill (S. 493). It is worded identically to two bills titled “Energy Tax Prevention Act” in the House and the Senate.

While many believe the EPA is overstepping its authority in attempting to regulate CO2, and basing its decision on bad science, opponents claim these Congressional efforts would gut the Clean Air Act (CAA) and put Americans at risk from air pollution and global warming.

But according to supporters:

Under the measures, EPA regulation of conventional air pollutants (toxins like lead, arsenic, mercury, carbon monoxide, and sulphur-oxides, and particulate matter), emissions actually intended for regulation by the CAA, would continue as before; only regulation of GHGs for the purpose of preventing global warming would be prohibited.
EPA acknowledges that its regulations would have only insignificant effect on global warming—e.g., that its vehicle carbon dioxide emission regulations would prevent less than one-one hundredth of a degree of warming in 90 years.

In addition, proponents argue:

EPA is out of compliance with the CAA in issuing its regulations, in two ways. First, the CAA requires EPA to conduct its own scientific assessment before issuing an “endangerment finding” for an emission; EPA instead relied on findings by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other bodies and did not conduct its own scientific assessment before ruling carbon dioxide a “dangerous pollutant.” Second, the CAA requires that any source of a “dangerous pollutant” emitting more than 250 tons per year must be regulated; EPA, recognizing the impossibility of processing all the applications and the enormous cost of compliance, instead issued a “tailoring rule” saying it would (for the present) regulate only sources emitting 250,000 tons per year.
EPA’s regulations would require massive switches from reliable, inexpensive energy sources (fossil fuels) to unreliable, expensive sources (wind, solar, and biofuels), resulting in enormous increases in energy prices and therefore in the cost of making and marketing all consumer products, from food and clothing to transportation and shelter. The impact on low-income families would be especially harsh, since the average family with income below $50,000 spends roughly 19% of after-tax income on energy, while the average family with income above $50,000 spends roughly 10% of its after-tax income on energy. The result is a regressive tax, one that hits everyone but hits the poor hardest of all.
Rising energy costs would drive up American unemployment while prompting companies to relocate to foreign countries like China, India, and other developing nations.
Many of the countries to which production would migrate use less efficient technologies and have less stringent environmental laws than America, so the net impact would be an increase not only in GHGs but also in actually harmful air pollution.

Yet another measure, sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), would postpone effect of GHG regulations by EPA for two years, but because it would leave business owners uncertain of the long-term regulatory situation, it would do little to offset the regulations’ impact on the economy.

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (the nation’s largest Protestant denomination) yesterday emailed an “Action Alert” on the McConnell amendment, online here. Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink also commented on the subject in its blog and email newsletter, and the Cornwall Alliance issued a news advisory on the measures.

Welcome New Subscribers!

With today’s issue we’re pleased to welcome over 100 new subscribers who visited our exhibit at the Ligonier Ministries National Conference in Orlando, FL, March 24–26. It was our pleasure to meet many of you there, and we were delighted that in our free drawings two of you won copies of our video series Resisting the Green Dragon DVDs, two of you won copies of our book Resisting the Green Dragon: Dominion, Not Death, and one of you won both. We hope you’ll find the newsletter educational, encouraging, and useful.—Cal Beisner

Recent Significant Developments

Science & Ecology

Two More Studies Demonstrate Failure of Climate Models
Anthony Watts reports on an article in press at Journal of Coastal Research that finds “worldwide-temperature increase has not produced acceleration of global sea level over the past 100 years.” And Bob Tisdale reports that data from ocean temperature sensors falsify James Hansen’s computer-model predictions of ocean warming.

Scientists Say Norwegian Sea Research Confirms Large, Robust Solar Impact on Temperatures (C3 Headlines)
"Using data from the Norwegian Sea and multiple solar proxies, the peer-reviewed research by Sejrup et al. confirms a robust and synchronous correlation between solar activity and temperatures."

Hide the Decline II: 1400-1550 Covered Up (The Reference Frame)
"The Briffa-Osborn 1999 reconstruction of the climate depended on a variable called "yrmxd" in a computer code. You can set it to any year and the program will cover up the whole history of your proxies before the year "yrmxd". The variable was set to 1550 instead of the correct 1402…"

Economics & Energy

Earth Hour: Why I WIll Leave My Lights On (Ross McKitrick; The Vancouver Sun)
Electricity is the way out of poverty. Earth hour is a celebration of poverty.

Frack, Baby, Frack (New York Post)
In three months, a statewide ban on all natural gas drilling comes to an end. But will Gov. Cuomo allow developers to begin tapping the rich Marcellus Shale — and thus not only help allay New York’s energy woes but also boost the upstate region’s ailing economy?

Religion & Ethics

Cornwall’s Beisner interviewed on “Richard Land Live” (Audio)
Guest host Dr. Barrett Duke interviewed Dr. Beisner March 26, discussing measures pending in Congress to prohibit EPA regulation of greenhouse gases.

Cornwall’s Beisner Interviewed on Worldview Warriors (Audio)
Worldview Warriors’ Jason DeZurik interviewed Cal Beisner about Resisting the Green Dragon at the annual convention of National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville recently, and the discussion delved deeply into the philosophical underpinnings of environmentalism.

Law, Regulation, & Litigation

Disorder in the Court: Will Trial Lawyers and Activist Judges "Legislate" Climate Policy? (Marlo Lewis; GlobalWarming.org)
“…I am a huge fan of the Inhofe-Upton bill. But even a good thing can be improved. S. 482 should be amended to preempt public nuisance litigation against GHG emitters under federal common law. Indeed, in its current form, S. 482 could actually increase the risk that the Supreme Court will empower trial lawyers and activist judges to ‘legislate’ climate policy. …”

Carbon Dioxide, a Pollutant? Better Hold Your Breath (Benjamin Phillips; Baptist Press)
If the EPA is able to regulate carbon dioxide, it can regulate your breath.

How Long Before Big Green Environmentalists Here Demand the U.S. Ban Cars, Too? (Mark Tapscott; The Washington Examiner)
It's been clear for decades that banning automobiles and the freedom they enable for individual Americans is among the top priorities for the environmental movement, but for obvious political reasons, only the very most radical Big Green voices speak openly about such a goal.

Politics & Debate

EPA Provides the Cash, American Lung Association Hits Upton and the Energy Tax Prevention Act (Myron Ebell; GlobalWarming.org)
The American Lung Association’s misrepresentation of the facts about the EPA’s power grab on greenhouse gas regulation is shameful.

Water Issues Worry Americans Most, Global Warming Least (Lydia Saad; Gallup)
Gallup polls show the majority of Americans are more worried about water issues than they are about global warming.

More Climate Disruption Drivel (Anthony Sadar and Stanely Penkala; American Thinker)
After the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Global Warmists are blaming "climate change."

Meet the Critics: Fred Goldberg, Ph.D

Landmark Documents from the Cornwall Alliance

E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., Founder and National Spokesman
Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation

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