…Rockefeller is right to support Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to keep control of our national climate (and, thus, energy) policy under the control of Congress rather than the Environmental Protection Agency.The Hill reported this evening:

A senior Democrat said Tuesday night he’d vote with Republicans on a measure to cancel EPA rules to rein in climate change.Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said this evening that he would support Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) resolution of disapproval to halt new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations on greenhouse gases.

“I intend to vote for Senator Murkowski’s Resolution of Disapproval because I believe we must send a strong message that the fate of West Virginia’s economy, our manufacturing industries, and our workers should not be solely in the hands of EPA,” Rockefeller said in a statement…

…Rockefeller acknowledged that the resolution — which requires only a simple majority to pass, instead of the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster — may now pass. “But my vote is squarely in favor of securing West Virginia’s future,” he said about his home state, which relies heavily on coal minding…

There are only two reasons for keeping climate policy under the control of the EPA:

• To further solidify the power of the executive branch;

• To help politicians in Congress hide their views from the public.

Neither of these is in the public interest.

For more information on the Murkowski resolution, see this National Center for Public Policy Research press release or this National Policy Analysis paper by Tom Borelli.