Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski is right that Congress, not the Environmental Protection Agency, should drive energy and climate policy for the United States. To that end, her controversial disapproval resolution that would strip the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases comes to a vote on Thursday after 10 hours of floor debate.
But this vote is more distraction than constructive step.
Politics surrounding the vote has become intense. Critics are linking Murkowski's resolution to the Gulf oil spill and business as usual and accuse her of trying to gut the Clean Air Act. Supporters argue that EPA wants to reach an intrusive, clumsy, controlling hand, and warn that too much authority will allow the agency to gut the country's fragile economic recovery in the name of clean air.
Please. Sen. Murkowski proposed her resolution months before the Gulf tragedy. And whatever authority it claims, EPA won't get a blank check to hobble the economy in these troubled times.
Everybody should take a deep breath and get the focus back on the prize.
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