EPA Suppressing Liberal Rules and Fines Until After Midterm Elections

EPA Suppressing Liberal Rules and Fines Until After Midterm Elections

GOP senator eyes politics in delay of EPA climate rule limiting coal pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency may have intentionally delayed issuing a regulation limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants so the rule would not be finalized until after the midterm elections, a GOP senator said Tuesday.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., sent a letter to EPA administrator Gina McCarthy questioning the agency's decision to submit the rule to the Federal Register on Nov. 25, more than two months after the proposal was released to the public.

"Based on this sequence of events, it appears that the delay in the proposal’s publication may have been motivated by a desire to lessen the impact of the president’s harmful environmental policies on this year’s midterm elections," Inhofe wrote.

Inhofe cited a Politico story about the delay between releasing the rule and submitting it -- a move that prevents Republican lawmakers from forcing a vote on repealing the regulation until January 2015 -- after the midterm elections.

"Now, because of EPA’s delay, the proposal will not need to be finalized until well after this election cycle," the senator wrote.

[link to www.foxnews.com]