Nick Snow
Washington Editor
It's a safe bet that US House committees will look closely at Obama administration activities now that Republicans are in the majority. It's even more apparent that the US Environmental Protection Agency's effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act is near the top of the House GOP leadership's list of concerns.
"We're not going to let this administration regulate what [it's] been unable to legislate," incoming Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said during a Jan. 2 appearance on "Fox News Sunday."
Upton said the CAA contains a requirement that the administration, in any regulation, must look at the rule's impacts on jobs and the economy. "We're going to have early, early hearings on this. We're going to see exactly what their analysis is on its impact on jobs," he indicated.
Upton also noted that the Congressional Review Act allows up-and-down votes in Congress of a new regulation within 60 days of its rules being published, and that it can't be filibustered if it comes up in the Senate. "It can be vetoed by the president, but already we've seen a number of powerful Democrats indicate that they have real, real qualms about what EPA is intending to do," he said.
When Upton designated him chairman of the committee's Energy and Power Subcommittee on Dec. 16, Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) said that EPA's plan to limit carbon emissions circumvents Congress's role, that the rules don't consider economic consequences, and that EPA has not provided compelling scientific evidence to support its effort.
'Wild lands' order
Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the Natural Resources Committee's new chairman, also suggested that the Obama administration tried to use its regulatory powers to achieve a goal it couldn't reach legislatively when US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued his Dec. 23 "wild lands" directive to the Bureau of Land Management. "There are ways to protect our lands without designating them as de factor wilderness areas," Hastings maintained.
A hearing appears likely, but its atmosphere could depend on which subcommittee holds it. Hastings named Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) chairman of the Energy and Mineral Resources panel and Rob Bishop (R-Utah) chairman of the National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands panel on Dec. 29.
"We will be vigorously reviewing numerous policies from the Department of the Interior that impede domestic energy production. These include the offshore drilling moratorium and other efforts to close off public lands for energy and mineral use," Lamborn said as his appointment was announced.
Bishop did not issue a statement, but if the "wild lands" question winds up before his subcommittee, the proceedings could get even livelier.
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