US senator abandons plans for controversial emissions legislation

Washington (Platts)--12Sep2006

Amid calls for a more thorough public debate, the chairman of the US
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has decided not to push ahead
with legislation that would impose massive federal fines and strip federal
highway funds from states that fail to meet federal air quality standards for
particle and ozone pollution.

Senator James Inhofe, Republican-Oklahoma, introduced the legislation,
which would have only affected California, on September 7. Senator Barbara
Boxer, Democrat-California, a member of the committee, and other critics of
the plan said Inhofe was retaliating against the state for passing a bill to
cap greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other industrial sources.

The committee's Republican spokesman rejected the claims of retaliation.
But he and a spokesman for Electric Reliability Coordinating Council said the
legislation shows California is focused too much on costly GHG reductions.
Levels of particulate matter (PM) and ozone, commonly known as soot and smog,
are too high in California and cause respiratory ailments and other health
problems for the states residents, they said.

California's air quality problem is exacerbated by its geology, which
holds air pollution in large valleys surrounded by large mountain ranges,
according to the US Environmental Protection Agency

Inhofe planned to hold a committee vote on his legislation in a "mark-up"
Wednesday, but he pulled his plan from the agenda late Monday. The committee
spokesman said Boxer and other members of the committee's minority demanded a
hearing on the PM and ozone legislation before holding a vote.

"This is the last mark-up of the year, so we're simply not going to vote
on it," the committee spokesman said. "This has happened before, so it's not
that unusual," he added.

One federal official said Senator John Warner, Republican-Virginia, had
also objected to the Inhofe bill. Warner's office could not be reached for
comment.

Other proposals by Inhofe, such as a 2003 plan to exempt gas stations
that dispose of used motor oil from federal waste cleanup laws, have gone
nowhere because of opposition on the committee.

--Martin Coyne, martin_coyne@platts.com

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