Week ahead: Ozone rule, chemical safety top agenda

The House is likely to take up a trio of bills to fight Democratic environmental priorities, and the Senate could vote on a chemical safety bill overhaul as lawmakers return from a weeklong recess.

The House agenda includes the Ozone Standards Implementation Act, a bill sponsored by Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) and others, to delay the Environmental Protection Agency’s ozone pollution rule from last year and make significant changes to the way the EPA writes pollution limits in the future.

{mosads}The bill has wide support among conservative and business groups, who see it as a key tool in their fight against the regulation that Republicans estimate is the most expensive in the country’s history.

Democrats are accusing the GOP of gutting the Clean Air Act with the bill, particularly due to the fact that the EPA would be allowed to consider the costs of new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for the first time, instead of setting them solely on the basis of health considerations.

The House is also likely to consider two non-binding resolutions.

One, sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), would put the House on record opposing a tax on carbon dioxide emissions.

Many Democrats and some Republicans see a carbon tax as a straightforward way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The resolution would concludes that “it is the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to American families and businesses, and is not in the best interest of the United States.”

The other resolution under consideration is in opposition to the $10.25 per barrel tax on crude oil that President Obama proposed earlier this year as part of his annual budget.

The plan, which is meant to fund new, clean transportation systems, hasn’t gotten much traction in Congress. The resolution lists the major economic, employment and other impacts the GOP believes would accompany such a tax and concludes that “a new tax should not be placed on oil.

The ozone bill and the resolutions are both on the Rules Committee’s calendar, so its likely they will be considered, although House leaders have not yet committed to holding votes.

On the other side of Capitol Hill, the Senate may vote on the bipartisan, bicameral compromise bill to overhaul chemical safety standards and update the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The House passed the bill May 24 with all but 12 votes in favor, and its sponsors expected that its strong support would lead to Senate passage days later.

But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) objected to quick consideration, saying he needed time to read the bill and understand the new authority it would give the EPA. Without Paul dropping his hold, passage would take longer.

Meanwhile, the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee will hold hearings to criticize Obama administration policies.

On Tuesday, the environment committee’s oversight subpanel will discuss the EPA’s “unfunded mandates” and their impacts on state, local and tribal governments.

On Thursday, the panel has scheduled a hearing about the implications of the Supreme Court’s stay on the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The committee has repeatedly criticized the EPA for taking measures that it says violate the stay, like helping states plan for complying with the rule.

In the House on Wednesday, the Science Committee’s environment subcommittee will hear from private and university weather prediction officials about the products and technologies that the private weather sector uses.

Later in the week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s panel on energy and power is due to meet Friday for a hearing on the Energy Department’s extensive efficiency standards for household appliances.

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