Senate panel to hold hearing on EPA climate rule

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the centerpiece regulation of President Obama’s climate agenda this month.

The hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency rules, which mandate states cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants 30 percent by 2030, will be on July 23, according to a congressional source.

{mosads}EPA chief Gina McCarthy will testify at the hearing, the source said.

The hearing comes after Republicans pressed chairwoman of the committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), to call on McCarthy, and administration officials to testify on the new rules.

Republicans have railed against them as a “war on coal” they say will shutter plants across the country and hurt the economy.

The hearing will be the first in the Senate on the carbon rules. House Republicans heard testimony from EPA’s air and radiation chief Janet McCabe last month on the agency’s proposal.