Obama Environmental Agenda Will Be Challenged by Incoming Republicans

Spurred on by a Tea Party movement that does not believe in human-caused global warming and opposes most government regulation of business, Republicans are expected to launch a broad assault on President Obama’s environmental programs if the GOP takes control of Congress in Tuesday’s elections. Republican members of Congress, lobbyists, and environmental activists say they expect a new Republican majority to investigate all aspects of Obama’s environmental agenda, to attempt to disband the Select Committee on Global Warming, and to fight to stop the U.S. Environmental Administration (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and some other pollutants. Republican leaders who are expected to take over key environmental and investigative committees have said they will hold hearings on the Obama administration’s response to the BP oil spill, the so-called “climategate” scandal involving hacked e-mails from climate scientists, and a host of regulatory actions by the EPA, including planned efforts to regulate CO2 emissions. The Republicans’ goal, one environmental lobbyist told the Guardian, is to keep EPA administrator Lisa Jackson “tied up in a chair” in front of congressional committees.