Republican senators offer CAIR reinstatement measure, but outlook for action this year dim

摘要

Two Republican senators last week introduced legislation to fully reinstate the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which provided an emissions allowance trading program for Eastern states to curb smog pollution from power plants beginning in 2009. Senators James Inhofe of Oklahoma and George Voinovich of Ohio, both senior members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the bill would fill the regulatory gap left by a federal court's July 11 decision vacating the rule and remanding it to the Environmental Protection Agency. The idea is that codifying the rule in law would remedy the problem identified by the court: that aspects of CAIR were not authorized by law. Meanwhile, two other committee members, Delaware Democrat Tom Carper and Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander, met with power industry, environmental and state regulatory officials on how best to address the CAIR remand. Carper and Alexander voiced support for passing legislation soon that would install phase 1 of CAIR for a limited time, such as two years, and then coming out in a future Congress with legislation for more stringent longer-term reductions of power plant emissions.