OVERNIGHT ENERGY: House votes to block Obama’s climate rule

HOUSE PASSES ‘JUST SAY NO’ BILL: The House voted 247-180 Wednesday to significantly change the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed climate rule for power plants by delaying it and letting states opt out.

The attack on the main pillar of President Obama’s climate change policies was an effort, House Republicans said, to protect states, the economy and consumers from the regulation.

“They’ve picked up a shotgun and pointed it at the heart of the American economy, our power generation,” Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) said earlier in the day, referring to the EPA.

{mosads}The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) would give state governors the power to avoid complying with the regulation if they determine that doing so would harm electric reliability, rates or important industries.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) countered that the bill “would effectively give governors the power to sabotage EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan by allowing them to opt out of the federal requirements of the plan based on arbitrary and ambiguous determinations.”

The White House has also taken a dim view of the bill, and has pledged to veto it and any other attacks on Obama’s climate legacy.

Read more here. 

INDIANA GOV DOESN’T WAIT FOR HOUSE: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) threatened Wednesday to ignore the rule, whether lawmakers allow him to or not.

Pence wrote to Obama to say that unless the EPA improves the rule “demonstrably and significantly” in the way he wants, Indiana will not comply.

“I believe the Clean Power Plan as proposed is a vast overreach of federal power that exceeds the EPA’s proper legal authority and fails to strike the proper balance between the health of the environment and the health of the economy,” he wrote.

Pence joins other Republican governors in strongly condemning the rule. But only Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) so far has pledged not to comply, an action that would invite the EPA to write and enforce its own plan for the state.

Read more here.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: The House will begin debate on a bill funding the Department of Interior, the EPA and federal environmental programs. Votes on the bill and amendments to it will come after Congress’s Fourth of July recess.

ON TAP THURSDAY II: Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) will discuss efforts to rewrite federal toxic chemical laws with the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda …

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will mark up a slate of bills, including one to improve weather forecasting.

A House Natural Resources Committee subpanel will hold a hearing on a handful of water bills. 

The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions will host a forum on financial tools to encourage clean energy and energy efficiency. It will include top state government officials from Tennessee and Pennsylvania, energy finance officials from Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., and other experts and stakeholders.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies will host a discussion on the International Energy Agency’s medium-term natural gas market report, featuring Laszlo Varro, head of the gas, coal and power division at the agency.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers will hold a press conference on reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 

AROUND THE WEB:

Google Inc. is going to build a new data center at the site of a coal-fired power plant that will soon close, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. 

Bloomberg Business has an interesting interactive graphic on how various natural and man-made actions have contributed to global warming.

The costs of cleaning up last month’s oil pipeline spill on California’s coast has hit $92 million for the pipeline operator, the Associated Press reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories …

-House votes to weaken Obama’s climate rule
-Obama nominates two officials to EPA posts
-EPA declines to study restricting Roundup pesticide’s use
-Road builders defend proposed gas-tax hike
-GOP assails EPA ‘power grab’ ahead of vote to slow climate rules
-Energy Department guarantees $1.8B in loans for GA nuclear plant 
-Indiana says it won’t follow EPA climate rule without changes
-EPA sends methane leak rule for final review
-Court orders Dutch government to cut greenhouse gas emissions
-Judge blocks federal fracking rule

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