House approves 2 Mullin amendments

Move blocks Obama-era environmental rules

The U.S. House on Wednesday approved two amendments introduced by U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin that would roll back environmental procedures put in place by former President Barack Obama.

The House voted 218-195 in favor of an amendment that prohibits funds from being used to enforce the Environmental Protection Agency’s methane rule. All but 11 Republicans voted in favor and all but three Democrats opposed it.

The rule limits greenhouse emissions and requires oil and gas companies to repair methane leaks. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, an Oklahoma Republican, had attempted to delay enforcement of the rule but was told by a federal court last month to act.

“This rule is currently facing litigation and uncertainty,” Mullin, R-Westville, said during debate on the House floor last week, “and Congress must act to block this job-killing regulation estimated to cost the U.S. economy $530 million annually.”

“Methane emissions from oil and natural gas have significantly declined in recent decades without multiple, overlapping federal regulations, and this is no exception,” he added.

The rule has been defended by Democrats and environmentalists who see it as a vital tool for cracking down on climate change.

“There is no doubt at all that methane contributes to the increased levels of greenhouse gas concentrations, which contribute to the longlasting changes in our climate, such as rising global temperatures, sea level change, weather and precipitation patterns and changes in the ecosystem’s habits and species diversity,” said U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn.

The House also voted 225-186 in favor of an amendment that prohibits funds from being used to implement rules based on the social cost of carbon, a metric that calculates the economic effects of carbon pollution.

“The Obama administration continuously used social cost of carbon models, which can easily be manipulated, in order to attempt to justify new jobkilling regulations,” Mullin said.

McCollum, in opposing Mullin’s amendment, called his legislation “harmful.”

“Weakening or eliminating the use of the social cost of carbon as a tool for federal agencies would ignore the sobering costs of health, environment, and economic impacts of extreme weather, rising temperatures, intensifying smog and other impacts,” she said.

The Mullin amendments were attached to a large spending bill that is expected to be voted on by the full House in the coming days.

All members of the Oklahoma delegation voted in favor of both amendments with the exception of U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Tulsa, who does not vote on legislation while his nomination to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is pending in the Senate.

The House voted down an amendment introduced by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., to prohibit funds from being used to close or consolidate regional EPA offices. All members from Oklahoma opposed the amendment except for Bridenstine, who didn’t vote.