Republicans Say EPA Is Overreaching Boundaries
Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 5:31PMBy Robert Hune-Kalter
Talk Radio News Service
Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were joined by other GOP members for a press conference on the upcoming vote on the Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding disapproval resolution. Murkowski is putting forth a resolution that would prohibit the EPA from regulating carbon emissions.
“The overreach that we see by the EPA is truly unprecedented in terms of overreach into the legislative branch by the executive. The EPA intends to take control of climate policy, take it away from Congress,” said Murkowski.
Alexander said he was not happy that the EPA wants to impose regulations on any emitter of more than 250 tons of carbon.
“This means one-fifth of our restaurants, one-fourth of all of our schools, two-thirds of all hospitals and doctors offices, one-tenth of our churches, and millions of small businesses, in effect such a broad rule would run millions of jobs overseas looking for cheap energy,” said Alexander.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he believes that the EPA regulating carbon output by businesses would be a disaster because the agency does not have the tools Congress has for regulation. While he said carbon regulation would be a job killer, he added that it is a goal to work towards.
“When it comes to carbon pollution, I am in the camp that believes all the stuff being spewed out of the cars and trucks and the plants is not good for you, but I would like to find a business-friendly way to regulate carbon,” he said.
Murkowski’s resolution will be debated in the Senate on Thursday.
BP Should Suspend Dividend Payments, Marketing Campaigns, Say House Democrats
Talk Radio News Service
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and other House Democrats today called on oil company BP to suspend making dividend payments and creating marketing campaigns.
A letter sent by Welch to BP CEO Tony Hayward earlier this week contained the following statement:
“As BP presides over one of the greatest environmental and economic catastrophes of our time, we find it troubling that your company plans to divert financial resources to shareholder dividends and slick marketing campaigns."
Despite the fact that Hayward told the House Transportation Committee that his company had a plan in place to deal with large spills, Cohen charged on Wednesday that this was not the case. The Tennessee Democrat said BP's legacy will forever be tied to the ongoing spill.
“We’re two days after World Ocean Day and we’re polluting one of our most precious bodies of water and possibly destroying the economic vitality and future of the Gulf Coast. BP is going to be known in the future as Biggest Polluter,” he said.
Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) suggested that the best public relations campaign for BP would be transparency and responsibility, putting its profits in reserve to meet its obligation to the Gulf Coast.
“The public does not like these ads, and when they hear of these dividends they’re going to see right away how terrible this is, that a company would be thinking so much of its shareholders when so many people are suffering on the Gulf Coast,” she said.
Cohen said Democrats are hoping to put BP into receivership so that the company cannot escape its financial responsibility through bankruptcy.
“I believe that they will eventually go bankrupt. I see BP pulling out, just like they pulled out of New Orleans after Andrew Jackson went to New Orleans in the Battle of Britain. The losers will be the people who obligations are due to,” he said.