• Home
• About Amy
• Serving Minnesotans
• About Minnesota
• Issues/ Legislation
• Media Center
• Contact Amy
• FAQ

News Releases

Klobuchar Advances Bill Supporting State Action Against Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Blasts EPA for letting politics interfere with science

May 21, 2008

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar said today that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) let politics interfere with science when it blocked an innovative California plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and she helped advance federal legislation giving California the permission it needs to proceed with its cutting-edge proposal.

Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is a cosponsor of the “Reducing Global Warming Pollution from Vehicles Act of 2008.’’ The bipartisan bill requires the EPA to approve California’s request for a waiver to proceed with rules that would reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars, trucks and other vehicles. The bill was approved by the Committee Wednesday by a vote of 10-9.

“In my state, fighting global climate change has not been a partisan issue. It’s been a bipartisan effort based on science,’’ Klobuchar said. “I’m disappointed that we have to enact federal legislation to get the EPA to do its job.’’

Klobuchar spoke at a committee hearing one day after a new report showed that career scientists at the EPA supported granting the California waiver, but that EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson overruled them after the White House intervened.

Minnesota is among fifteen states that joined California in a lawsuit to overturn the EPA decision, which was handed down in December.

###