In a floor speach just before 1 pm E.T. today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced a rarely-used “Resolution of Disapproval” of the EPA’s endangerment finding of carbon dioxide.
With the endangerment finding, backed by a Supreme Court ruling, the EPA was set to regulate carbon pollution in the U.S., in an attempt to curb the negative health effects as well as climate change.
Dubbed the “Dirty Air Act” (and referred to as such by Murkowski herself), this resolution would reverse the endangerment finding, taking away the EPA’s ability to enforce such regulations.
Sen. Murkowski repeatedly said that action on climate change and environmental protection should come from Congressional action. Her message was the Congress needed more time to pass legislation, even stating that she had one co-sponsored a cap-and-trade measure.
Sen. Barbara Boxer opposes the Dirty Air Act
In fact, she voted against such legislation twice, in 2003 and 2005, before then adding her name to a 2006 bill that both capped carbon as well as the price of carbon. That is nearly eight years of attempts and time taken to pass legislation.
And the Senator is asking for more time.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer rose first in opposition, detailing the broad support for regulation, from doctors to business leaders to faith leaders.
But mostly she questioned when Congress got into the business of legislating science. Boxer called the move to overturn scientific fact, “unprecedented,” and, “an assault on the health of the American people.”
She went on to cite other instances where scientists and health experts proved substances were dangerous to the nation’s health, from nicotine to arsenic, and asked what would have happened if a Senator had tried to overturn those findings.
