Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is upset with U.S. EPA over how it dealt with her proposed amendment to limit the agency's power to regulate greenhouse gases.

Murkowski, ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced an amendment last month to the fiscal 2010 EPA spending bill that would have prohibited the agency from regulating heat-trapping emissions from stationary sources like power plants and industrial facilities for one year. The proposal was quashed when Senate leadership decided not to allow Murkowski to offer it on the floor under a unanimous consent agreement (Greenwire, Sept. 24).

In a letter sent yesterday to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Murkowski expressed "considerable disappointment" over how EPA handled the amendment.

"EPA's evolving series of assertions about the impacts of my amendment were not only regrettable, they were thoroughly avoidable," Murkowski said. "I reached out to EPA to request your analysis and repeatedly stated that I would modify the text of my amendment to account for concerns raised, especially those of the EPA."

Jackson said in a letter last month to Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that because of the way the Clean Air Act is written, Murkowski's amendment would "pull the plug" on EPA's proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles.

But Murkowski argued that her amendment would have been narrowly tailored to affect only stationary sources, and she asked Jackson to provide a written legal analysis underpinning EPA's assessment of the amendment.

The Alaska Republican said that while EPA could not find time to respond to her request for a discussion of the amendment and its possible effects, agency personnel did find the time to contact others whose businesses depend on EPA permits and tell them that the amendment would make it difficult or impossible to obtain the permits.

Murkowski also expressed concerns over EPA's proposed greenhouse gas "tailoring" rule that seeks to regulate large industrial sources while shielding smaller emitters (E&ENews PM, Sept. 30).

The draft rule would require facilities that release more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year to account for their emissions when obtaining clean air permits, although the Clean Air Act's current thresholds for regulating harmful pollutants are 100 or 250 tons per year.

Murkowski said the proposal "has no legal basis" and requested that EPA provide an analysis of the economic impacts of stationary source regulations as well as an explanation of EPA's legal basis for the proposed rule.

A spokeswoman for EPA said the agency "is currently reviewing Senator Murkowski's letter and will respond to her in a timely manner."

Click here to read Murkowski's letter.