In a move last week that threatens to hinder the recent advances towards climate control, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska introduced a resolution to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from taking any action to regulate carbon dioxide and other dangerous climate-altering gases. The New York Times reports that Senator Murkowski has proposed to use the Congressional Review Act to strip the agency of the power to limit emissions of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Just last December, the EPA made the landmark decision that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare. This announcement has been pivotal to fighting climate change. With carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases determined to be a threat to human health and the environment, much more strident steps can be taken to curb them. Since greenhouse gases are deemed dangerous, this means the government is now writing regulations to restrict emissions from vehicles, power plants and other major sources. As EPA head Lisa Jackson stated, "These long-overdue findings cement 2009's place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean energy reform."

But 2010 may have a different legacy for the environment. Senator Murkowski feels that these gas limits would impose “significant costs on the economy.” Murkowski claims businesses will go under, domestic energy production would suffer, the housing market would get worse, and our food would cost more money to produce. (No word if locusts and plague will be making an appearance.) As Murkowski stated on the floor of Congress, “Make no mistake, if Congress allows this to happen there will be severe consequences.”

Murkowski has accused the current administration of forcing Congress to move quickly on legislation that puts big business at a great threat. Naturally, this would aim to hinder the “complex” cap-and-trade program, the policy that requires with a mandatory cap on emissions while funding alternative energy solutions.

The Times reports that Senator Murkowski, the senior Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has nearly unanimous Republican backing. She also has the support of Democratic Senators Mary Landrieu (Louisiana), Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas), and Ben Nelson (Nebraska).

Jim Manley is an aide to Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid. Manley expressed Reid’s hope that both parties can come to an agreement on climate change. But as Manley told The Times, “But, thus far, very few Republicans have shown any willingness to work with us to get that done.”

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