Democrats on Thursday blocked the first major bill in the Senate that would have delayed the Environmental Protection Agency’s clean air rules. The bill, which needed 60 votes to pass, got only 47 votes. Joe Manchin from West Virginia, who faces reelection next year, was the lone Democrat to vote for the bill. His state is rich in coal, the fuel that could see added costs from a raft of upcoming EPA rules on power plants and industry. The lone Republican to vote against the bill was Olympia Snowe of Maine. The bill, called the Long-Term Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011 and sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch, was promoted by Republicans as a jobs measure that would have allowed businesses to hire by reducing regulatory uncertainty. Democrats disagreed. “This is not a jobs bill,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, the chairman of the chamber’s Committee on Environment and Public Works. “If you can’t breathe, you can’t work.”

See the original post:
Democrats block Long-Term Surface Transportation Extension Act

Related Issues:

• Coal Tar Sealant Health Hazards
  Coal tar is a brown or black liquid of extremely high viscosity, which smells of naphthalene and aromatic hydrocarbons. Coal tar is incorporated into some parking-lot sealcoat products, which are marketed as a means of protecting and beautifying underlying pavement. Sealcoat prod...
• Coal Tar Sealant Health Hazards
  Coal tar is a brown or black liquid of extremely high viscosity, which smells of naphthalene and aromatic hydrocarbons. Coal tar is incorporated into some parking-lot sealcoat products, which are marketed as a means of protecting and beautifying underlying pavement. Sealcoat prod...
• U.S. CO2 emissions to stay below 2005 levels
  U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions will be 7 percent lower than their 2005 level of nearly 6 billion metric tons in 2020 as coal's share of electricity production continues a steady descent over the next two decades, according to new government data. The Energy Information Adminis...
• Atmospheric Particles causing more rain
  A rise in the atmosphere of aerosols - miniscule particles which include soot, dust and sulphates - has led to more rainfall in certain parts of the world and could provide vital clues for future climate predictions, a scientific study shows. A deeper understanding of rainfall pa...
• US EPA issuing new Air Quality rules
  The Environmental Protection Agency is introducing its most ambitious clean air rules in decades, though it is making some concessions to election-minded Republicans who oppose them. The EPA, facing backlash from heavy industry, has delayed several of the rules and made adjustmen...