Washington (Platts)--2Mar2010/634 pm EST/2334 GMT

Republicans in the US House of Representatives Tuesday moved to bar the US Environmental Protection Agency from using its current authority to regulate greenhouse gases, saying that even if their effort fails it will send a message that the public will not bear the cost of the regulations.

The resolution, known as a resolution of disapproval, was introduced less than a month before the regulatory agency is due to promulgate its tailpipe emissions rules for light-duty vehicles, which in turn will prompt regulation of stationary sources of GHGs.

"We get elected to represent our constituency," said Representative Joseph Barton, a leading sponsor of the resolution of disapproval. "I'm of the opinion that what the EPA has done is wrong, is faulty, is not called for."

Barton said that introduction of a resolution of disapproval would help highlight the cost of EPA's proposed carbon regulations, and "also show the American people the fault behind the finding" that GHGs endanger public health.

Barton, a Texas Republican, and other Republicans told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday that EPA had based its endangerment finding for GHGs on false scientific conclusions, including from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the finding should therefore be thrown out.

"If EPA made a decision without looking at underlying science, we have to disapprove of that until or unless proper science is brought," said California Republican Darrell Issa, a leading cosponsor of the resolution.

Issa would not say if he would support any legislation to curb carbon emissions, and he questioned whether they were really a problem. Still, he talked about Congress' need to lead on the issue.

"I am very aware that we should not simply have an agency take it over, and then what happens, happens," he said.

Barton and Issa's resolution is supported by House Republican leadership, and by a handful of members from the other side of the aisle. Democrats Ike Skelton of Missouri and Collin Peterson of Minnesota introduced an identical resolution last week.

The House efforts mirror another resolution of disapproval introduced in the US Senate by Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, who plans to bring it up for a vote later this month.

All of these resolutions would nullify EPA's finding that GHG emissions endanger public health, and would prevent the agency from regulating those emissions under the Clean Air Act.

SENATE RESOLUTION MAY PASS; HOUSE FAR LESS LIKELY

In contrast to the way the legislative process usually operates, it will be more difficult to pass the resolution of disapproval in the House than in the Senate.

Senate rules make such measures easier to pass than ordinary bills, and Murkowski's effort stands a good chance of winning the needed 51 votes.

House rules, meanwhile, allow leadership to prevent resolutions of disapproval from coming to the floor, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is unlikely to call for a vote on the measure no matter how much bipartisan support it receives.

To come into effect, the resolution would have to pass both the Senate and the House, and would then go to President Barack Obama, who could choose to veto it.

The House resolution came the same day a group of 13 Democratic senators wrote to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, requesting that EPA retain its authority to regulate existing coal-fired power plants even if Congress passes comprehensive climate and energy legislation.

"We need to begin to de-carbonize our utility sector and make the transition to clean energy," said the group, which included Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, who co-sponsored the Senate's original cap-and-trade bill.

"As a result, we are writing to ask you to ensure that energy and climate legislation does not weaken the Clean Air Act's application to existing coal-fired power plants, the nation's biggest global warming polluters, so that they meet up-to-date technology standards for carbon dioxide."

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com