DC Sets Up Environmental Law Showdown

Clean air, clean water. Endangered nature and the battles ahead this summer in Washington over the US environment.

It’s a big summer shaping up for environmental protection battles in Washington. Barack Obama and the EPA are pushing a raft of new measures. Republicans – and a handful of Democrats – are pushing back.  On clean water, and EPA oversight way upstream. And clean air, carbon emissions, and coal-fired power plants.  n greenhouse gas emissions from heavy trucks and planes. On protecting federal lands with national monument designations. On protecting the greater sage grouse. This hour On Point:  we walk through the environmental battles shaping up for the summer of 2015.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Coral Davenport, energy and environment reporter for the New York Times. (@coralmdavenport)

Danielle Baussan, managing director of energy policy at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank. (@daniellebaussan)

Nick Loris, Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. (@NiconomistLoris)

New York Times: G.O.P. Assault on Environmental Laws — "Beneath all the political sound bites lies a deep-seated if unspoken grievance that Mr. Obama is actually trying to realize the promise of laws that Congress passed years ago but wouldn’t stand a chance with today’s Congress. The nonsense about regulatory overkill has also infected the presidential campaign, the latest manifestation being a batty suggestion from Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin to shift the functions of the Environmental Protection Agency to the states."

The Hill: Senate panel to take up bill blocking EPA water rule — "The committee held a hearing on the water rule in May, one week before EPA released its final version. Republicans have called the rule a 'power grab,' warning that it expands the EPA’s regulatory jurisdiction to include small ponds and minor waterways."

POLITICO: Barack Obama's water war — "On its face, the Waters of the United States rule is largely a technical document, defining which rivers, streams, lakes and marshes fall under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. But opponents condemn it as a massive power grab by Washington, saying it will give bureaucrats carte blanche to swoop in and penalize landowners every time a cow walks through a ditch. And it comes amid years of complaints from Republicans about President Barack Obama’s regulatory agenda, which has encompassed everything from power plants and health insurers to Internet providers and for-profit colleges."