This morning's San Jose Mercury News includes an interesting dispatch from the paper's Washington bureau chief, covering the contrasting approaches that California's senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, have taken to grilling EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson on his thwarting of their state's global warming efforts. While the observation that both nevertheless ended up equally exasperated with Johnson's stonewalling is nothing new to us, the following tidbit is:
Feinstein wants a General Accountability Office investigation of the decision, and the two senators have introduced a bill to reverse the EPA decision and allow California and the other states to enforce their emissions regulations.
They received some unexpected verbal support from Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who said "this is an issue of states' rights," and that his state was ready to adopt the California standard.
The article doesnt' make it clear just how strong Allard's support is, and whether he might be prepared to help legislative efforts to overturn states' rights. At any rate, Boxer's bipartisan legislation currently has 22 cosponsors, having recently received the imprimatur of Deputy Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL)-- whose state is also moving toward adopting California's standards.
Still, Allard's statement is noteworthy in calling attention to just how radical EPA's decision really was. And the disagreement of principled Republicans-- ranging from the proudly conservative Allard to the more centrist governor of Connecticut, and including newly-crowned presidential nominee John McCain-- only argues in favor of reversing the current administration's audacious assault on state solutions to global warming.
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