Dive Brief:
- Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the new chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, began his fourth term by laying out his plans to challenge the "job-killing" Clean Power Plan put in place by the Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency.
- Inhofe may use an expedited review process available under the Congressional Review Act to challenge the EPA on its ability to limit carbon emissions from power plants, and Republicans could also attempt to defund initiatives with which they disagree, the Hill reports.
- The EPA has delayed finalizing three carbon dioxide emissions regulations for power plants, saying it needs additional time to consider millions of comments related to the Clean Power Plan to regulate existing facilities.
Dive Insight:
Republicans now control both the House and Senate, and Sen. Inhofe urged lawmakers to use the power to push back on carbon regulations put in place by Democrats.
"My goal in the new Congress is to put America back on the map as the place to do business. I plan to pursue this by using my leadership positions to improve our nation’s transportation infrastructure [and] rein in EPA’s job-killing regulations," he said in a statement.
Inhofe told reporters that lawmakers could use the Congressional Review Act, a key piece of legislation passed under the GOP's Contract with America in the 1990s, to challenge the regulations, though The Hill reports such tactics rarely pass both chambers. The law allows for regulations to be challenged in an expedited manner.
“A wake-up call has been heard, and that maybe is what’s driven down the significance of that issue in the minds of the American people,” Inhofe told The Hill.
Regulations covering modified and existing plant rules were scheduled to be finalized in June 2015 but have been delayed as the EPA sifts through some 4 million comments.
