WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- Halting the first-ever nationwide greenhouse-gas emissions regulations will help China dominate clean-energy technology, a Democratic U.S. senator said.

Senate legislation to be voted on that would permanently block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse-gas emissions would cause the United States to forfeit "leadership in environmentally clean technology to China," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Wednesday.


"That's the last thing we want to do," she said. "They are already surpassing us in solar production, and we created it."

China is the world's biggest exporter of solar panels. The United States was No. 1 until 2008, when it was eclipsed by Germany.

The official China Securities Journal reported Wednesday China might double its target for solar power capacity over the next five years following Japan's nuclear crisis.

China was also the world leader in clean-energy investment last year, ahead of Germany and the United States, a study by the independent, non-profit Pew Charitable Trusts' Pew Environment Group said. The United States fell from No. 2 in 2009.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the Senate measure blocking regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions would "rein in the EPA and protect jobs."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who introduced the measure, said Tuesday keeping EPA powers to regulate greenhouse gases intact would further increase energy costs and eliminate thousands of jobs.

Two other amendments to limit the EPA's climate authority include a measure from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to delay the rules for two years and a bill from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., to exempt small polluters and the agriculture sector from climate rules.

The bills need at least 60 votes to pass the 100-member Senate.

Companion legislation introduced in the House passed a key committee this month and was expected to be voted on by May.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled April 2, 2007, the EPA had the authority to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases in automobile emissions. The court said the agency could not sidestep its authority to regulate those gases unless it could provide a scientific basis for its refusal.

That ruling overturned a Bush administration argument that the EPA did not have a right to regulate carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said U.S. President Barack Obama would veto any attempt to take away her agency's power to regulate carbon.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., originally said he expected the Senate would vote on the EPA-limiting legislation Wednesday. But the vote was delayed when senators couldn't agree on debating a bill that would serve as a vehicle for the measures.

The senators' measures are amendments to a bill to reauthorize the U.S. Small Business Act, which supports the Small Business Administration.