A host of controversial amendments could come to the Senate floor today as the chamber launches another day of debate on the fiscal 2010 spending bill for environmental agencies.

Senate leaders worked into the evening to reach an agreement limiting the number of amendments that will be considered today, with no deal reached as of press time. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has scheduled a cloture vote this morning to speed passage of the bill to fund the Interior Department, U.S. EPA and Forest Service in case no agreement was reached.

Among the more contentious issues that could arise today is an amendment from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that would prohibit EPA for one year from regulating stationary sources of carbon dioxide emissions (E&ENews PM, Sept. 23).

Murkowski has said that the amendment is necessary to avoid the "economic train wreck" that would result from EPA regulation of stationary sources of carbon dioxide. However, she said that the amendment will not interfere with any other EPA regulations, including rules to limit mobile source emissions.

But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson yesterday said that enactment of the amendment would "pull the plug" on EPA's proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles.

In a letter, Jackson said that because of the way the Clean Air Act is written, finalizing the automobile rule will automatically make carbon dioxide a pollutant subject to Clean Air Act regulation for both stationary and mobile sources.

"The only way that EPA could comply with the prohibition in Sen. Murkowski's amendment would be to not promulgate the light-duty vehicle standards," Jackso's letter says.

Murkowski will ask for her amendment to be brought up before a cloture vote, said spokesman Robert Dillon.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) has introduced several amendments that could limit EPA's regulatory authority, some of which could be brought to the floor today (Greenwire, Sept. 22).

One measure would prohibit any funding from the spending bill from being used to regulate carbon dioxide emissions until both China and India have signed international agreements that require a percentage of carbon dioxide emission reductions similar to that required in the United States.

Vitter introduced another amendment to prohibit EPA from finalizing or implementing the agency's proposed "endangerment finding" of CO2 as a pollutant until the agency conducts an evaluation of the potential loss or shifts of employment that may result from finalizing the proposed rule.

Offshore drilling

Yesterday saw a defeat for proponents of expanded offshore oil and gas drilling, who viewed the Interior spending bill as one of their best chances to raise the contentious issue.

The Senate voted, 56-42, to table Vitter's motion to recommit the spending bill to include language blocking Interior from delaying implementation of a 2010-2015 outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing program proposed in the waning days of the Bush administration.

The dispute over offshore drilling temporarily delayed consideration of the spending bill yesterday afternoon while behind-the-scenes negotiations occurred over allowing a vote on Vitter's motion.

The Bush-era plan that Vitter was pushing would greatly expand outer continental shelf development, including opening areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last week said it remains unclear whether his department will put the new plan in place before the current plan runs out in 2012.

Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Vitter's motion would have prevented the Obama administration from presenting its own oil and gas development plan in favor of the draft proposed by the Bush administration. There is not enough information about the Atlantic seaboard to "make decisions to sell off taxpayer resources," she said.

Feinstein also claimed that Vitter's measure would not allow Interior time to consider the 350,000 public comments it received on the plan. "The department should not be prevented from studying these comments and presenting the best plan it can," she said.

Vitter disputed her claim, saying that there was nothing in his amendment to prevent Interior from reading and digesting the public comments. He accused the current administration of ignoring the public calls to increase drilling that grew loud last summer when gasoline prices spiked. "This question is real simple: Did we listen to the American people when they spoke so loudly, so clearly, or is Congress going to ignore the clear will of the American people yet again?" he asked.

Vitter had tried to call up his amendment on the Senate floor Tuesday, but Feinstein, who is managing the Interior-EPA spending bill on the floor, objected on behalf of Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D). Vitter then offered his motion to recommit.

After yesterday's vote, Vitter said he will try to "push the general concept" of expanding drilling again during this session of Congress. Asked if the margin of defeat for his measure shows that the Bush proposed plan won't fly in this Senate, he said, "No. I think it shows that, unless the American people get riled up again, this Congress and this administration is happy to thumb their nose at them."

Mike Gravitz of Environment America said his group hopes Vitter's measure will be the big offshore drilling vote for the year. "But the other side is very persistent," he added. "Big Oil always has its people out working, looking for different angles, and you never know. Our job is to be vigilant."

The Senate also rejected, 72-26, an amendment from Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to strike the earmarks from the Save America's Treasures program and provide criteria for the distribution of grants under that program. The National Park Service program was established to protect cultural resources such as historic structures, collections, artwork, maps and journals.

McCaskill said most earmarks in spending bills go to the states of the few members of Congress who sit on the appropriations committees and said her amendment would restore a competitive process for distributing the money. "This amendment is a very small step," she said. "It restores a small competitive grant program."

Feinstein opposed the amendment, saying there was a rigorous vetting process that whittled down more than 150 possible projects to the 16 that were chosen. "We applied the same criteria that's in the law," she said. "These are all excellent projects."

On another subject, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said he plans to offer a motion to recommit today because he objects to the bill's 16 percent increase in spending for environmental agencies over the previous year.

Click here to read Jackson's letter.