If Republicans win control of the House of Representatives, the party’s senior leadership plans to attack the Obama administration’s environmental policies and challenge scientists who link greenhouse gas emissions with climate change.
As Time points out, the expected GOP takeover of control of the House will put Republicans in charge of key committees, including Energy and Commerce, that handle energy and environmental legislation.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the GOP also is expected to launch wide-ranging congressional investigations of administration actions and scientists who link air pollution to climate change. Among the aims is to portray the Environmental Protection Agency as abusing its authority and damaging the economy with needless government regulations, including moves to control emissions.
President Obama, through his veto power, along with Senate Democrats — who are expected to maintain a majority in the upper chamber in Tuesday’s voting — could limit what Republicans can achieve legislatively. However, the GOP’s anticipated investigations in the House could put the EPA and other administration environmental policymakers on the defensive, the Times reports, and thwart new initiatives.
The Obama administration has increased pressure on industry and utilities to curtail pollution, but many of the new emissions restrictions would be put at risk by a challenge to the EPA’s authority.
The EPA’s determination last year that carbon dioxide and other emissions endanger public welfare by contributing to climate change cleared the way for the agency to regulate emissions. But many Republicans assert that the science on climate change is not yet settled, despite widespread scientific agreement about its human causes.
Another likely target of investigation is the administration’s handling of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. House Republicans have already written letters to the Interior Department questioning the moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling that the administration temporarily invoked after the explosion.
