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Klobuchar Demands Better Performance by EPA on Climate Change

Tells agency to get out of the way of states fighting greenhouse gas emissions

January 24, 2008

Washington, D.C.  – At a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) chastised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for blocking state efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and failing to discharge its duty to protect the environment.

“In my state, fighting climate change has not been a partisan issue,’’ Klobuchar said. “That’s why I’m so disappointed that we have a federal agency that has to be pushed and pushed to get it right. We shouldn’t need to have oversight hearings to ensure that our Environmental Protection Agency is actually protecting the environment. And we certainly shouldn’t have an Environmental Protection Agency that blocks states from choosing higher standards than the federal government.’’

Thursday’s hearing was called to review the EPA’s decision last month to deny a waiver to the state of California, which is seeking to set aggressive standards seeking to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

Minnesota is among fifteen states that have joined California in a lawsuit to overturn the EPA’s decision.

Klobuchar recently attended a climate change forum in Ely, Minnesota, with explorer Will Steger and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty where a broad group of environmentalists, industry representatives and recreation enthusiasts agreed on the imperative to address climate change.
 
Klobuchar pointed out that courts have held that there is no conflict between new federal fuel-efficiency standards and additional state efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Your decision to deny California a waiver defies logic, disregards the law and discounts undisputed science,” Klobuchar said to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, who testified at the hearing.

Klobuchar serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which recently passed the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which would provide a cap-and-trade strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2050. A key provision of that bill is Klobuchar’s “carbon counter’’ proposal, which would establish a national registry of greenhouse gases so that industry has a basis to begin using the cap-and-trade system.

Klobuchar also serves on the Senate Commerce Committee, which negotiated new higher national vehicle fuel-efficiency standards, known as “CAFÉ’’ standards, as part of the 2007 Energy Bill signed into law last month by President Bush.

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