U.S. Chamber's Tom Donohue wants revenge…
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is taking the Obama administration to court to block the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act.
The Chamber, which has established itself as a foe of the White House’s attempts to curb emissions, wants bipartisan legislation to address climate change and will challenge the administration in federal court.
In December, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are a public health danger and set in motion plans to regulate them.
The “endangerment finding” was widely considered the stick to drive Republicans and wayward Democrats to grab for the carrot of congressional action.
The Chamber’s General Counsel, Steven J. Law, said the Obama administration failed to follow procedure in reaching its finding. Law said,
Because of the huge potential impact on jobs and local economies, this is an issue that requires careful analysis of all available data and options. Unfortunately, the agency failed to do that and instead overreached. The result is a flawed administrative finding that will lead to other poorly conceived regulations further downstream.
More details about the challenge will be released in the coming weeks, Law said.
Tom Donohue, the rough and tumble lobbyist who heads the Chamber, has been spoiling for a fight with the Obama Administration since top advisers started going around him and speaking directly with business leaders.
The Chamber claims that it supports greenhouse gas reductions but has never found a measure that it can actually back.
Now that the administration’s major initiatives on climate, health care and everything else have stalled, Donohue appears to be ready to get his revenge.
Photo by ian Wagreich / © 2010 U.S. Chamber of Commerce