Washington (Platts)--9Nov2010/630 pm EST/2330 GMT

      
When Republicans won control of the US House of Representatives in last
week's midterm elections, they effectively gained control over the federal
government's purse strings, which could allow them to derail the Obama
administration's plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

     Jennifer Hing, a spokeswoman for top House Appropriations Committee
Republican Jerry Lewis, said Tuesday that Appropriations Republicans were
likely to use their new-found position to do just that.

     "In the previous year we've tried to target some of the [US Environmental
Protection Agency] regulations that my Republican members find harmful," said
Hing. "And I would fully expect that to be a continued focus of the
committee." 

     Hing noted that House and Senate Democrats are crafting legislation
currently to fund the federal government beyond the first of the year, but
added that with Republicans still in the minority they would have no
opportunity to add language to the continuing resolution or omnibus
appropriations bill for fiscal 2011.

     House Republicans will have a primary role in drafting fiscal 2012
spending legislation, however, and Hing said it was likely they would include
language in the EPA funding bill that would prohibit that agency from using
funds to implement GHG restrictions.

     "Based on the history of where Republicans on the committee have been,
it's certainly a potential," she said.

     EPA plans to phase in carbon dioxide restrictions for large stationary
sources of GHG in January. 

		--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com

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