Rockefeller, Murkowski eyeing chances to block EPA climate rules next year

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) believes the new Congress will be “much more likely” to approve his legislation that would halt looming Environmental Protection Agency climate change rules. Rockefeller wants to delay rules — which will begin phasing in next month — to curb emissions from power plants, refineries and other industrial plants, but never got a vote on his measure this year. “The House will be that way, and the Senate will be more inclined to be that way,” Rockefeller told The Hill in the Capitol on Saturday, a reference to gains by GOP lawmakers hostile to climate rules. Rockefeller plans to immediately reintroduce the bill when the new Congress starts, he said. “We will just keep going right at it,” he said. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is also mulling new efforts to block EPA rules next year...more