Climate peacock Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) threatened to tie up the funding of the government with his coal-powered campaign to kill climate action before the end of the year.  But the Republicans killed the effort so that they could take the lead on it in 2011!

First, Brad Johnson explains what Rockefeller tried to do:

 

In a press release issued Thursday, Rockefeller said that he is willing to try to “suspend the rules on the Omnibus Appropriations bill” to force a 2/3 vote for his “Dirty Air Act” amendment, which would stall EPA rules on global warming polluters until 2014:

“The time has come for us to make a decision on the energy future of our country. I have spent this year fighting to make sure that Congress, not the EPA, determines how best to reduce greenhouse gases in a way that protects West Virginia’s economy. While there are still ongoing discussions about how Congress should proceed, I want to make it clear that I intend to get a vote this year on my EPA-suspension legislation. I know there is bipartisan support for this legislation, and if necessary, I will seek to suspend the rules and bring this up for a vote. This is too important for us to delay any further.”

Meanwhile, the disaster of global warming pollution grows. “The first nine months of the year have seen the highest number of weather-related events since Munich Re started keeping records,” Peter Hoeppe, an expert from Munich Re’s Geo Risks Research department warned — including a flooding disasters in West Virginia in March, May, and June, followed by disastrous drought. Antarctic sea ice is being melted by a radically warming ocean. Phytoplankton populations are collapsing. And the rate of ocean acidification the fastest in 65 million years.

And yet Sen. Rockefeller, whose family fortune was built upon oil and has received over $800,000 from the fossil industry in campaign contributions, says that preventing the United States from even beginning to slow the pollution is what cannot be delayed.

Rockefeller said Friday he was abandoning his effort for the year:

 

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), blaming Republicans, admitted defeat Friday in his long-shot bid to advance legislation this year that would delay looming Environmental Protection Agency climate change rules.

Rockefeller — who says the rules will harm his coal-heavy state — had vowed Thursday to try and force a vote on the measure, but now admits it’s on ice for the year.

“I have been reliably informed that long-time Republican proponents of my bill to suspend EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions have pulled their support for this year — so that they can gain some political advantage trying to take over this issue in 2011,” he said in a statement Friday.

It will be up to Climate Hawks in 2011 and 2012 to prove that attacking EPA efforts to preserve clean air, clean water, and livable climate for our children is not a winning political issue.