Republican EPA chiefs to Congress: Act on climate
WASHINGTON — Top environmental regulators for four Republican presidents told Congress on Wednesday what many Republican lawmakers won’t: Action is needed on global warming.
In a congressional hearing organized to undermine Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s environmental proposals, Senate Democrats asked the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency under former Presidents Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan to discuss the risks from climate change and what should be done about it. Some Republicans dispute the science of climate change and have worked to unravel Obama’s steps to address it.
Blame pollution
Action on Capitol Hill — where even a bland, bipartisan energy efficiency bill couldn’t get passed in May — has been in a deep freeze.
“We have a scientific consensus around this issue. We also need a political consensus,” said Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor and first EPA administrator under former President George W. Bush, who resigned her post after disagreeing with the White House’s direction on pollution rules.
Whitman was joined by William Ruckelshaus, the nation’s first EPA administrator under Nixon; William Reilly, who led the EPA under former President George H.W. Bush; and Lee Thomas, whowas administrator under Reagan.
The strategy by Democrats was reminiscent of other high-profile hearings on climate change that created fanfare but resulted in little action. In March, Democrats staged an allnighter on the Senate floor to talk climate change. In 2009, former Vice Presi- dent Al Gore and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sparred before a House committee over climate change. Climate scientist James Hansen in 1988 told the Senate the planet is warming and pollution is to blame.
Ineffective testimony
The EPA chiefs’ testimony apparently did little to bridge the divide. Coal miners packed the hearing to protest a new EPA plan to cut carbon dioxide pollution from power plants. Before any testimony, top Republicans on the Senate environmental panel said the rule would kill jobs for no environmental benefit.
That view contrasted sharply with the opinions of the four EPA administrators, who said the Obama administration had worked hard to make the proposal flexible and workable, using authority provided by Congress.
The four EPA chiefs also said that they are not alone in the Republican Party.
“There are Republicans that believe the climate is changing, and humans have a role to play. They just need some political cover,” Whitman said. Reilly was more direct. “There is a lot happening on climate,” he said, citing efforts by states and corporations to tackle the problem. “It’s just not happening in Washington.”