Deirdre Shesgreen

Gannett Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON – The ink isn't dry yet on President Barack Obama's proposal to reduce carbon pollution, but Sen. Roy Blunt is already angling to kill it.

Blunt, R-Mo., is pushing a bill sponsored by the Senate's GOP leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, which aims to block the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing the new regulations. They were announced on Monday but wouldn't become final until next year.

"This bill is an important step in preventing the president and his administration from further burdening people who simply cannot afford to pay more at the pump or higher utility bills as a result of these costly energy policies," Blunt said.

The legislation is unlikely to go anywhere in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. But the bill highlights the fierce debate in Congress over if and how the U.S. should respond to global warming.

Most Republicans say the Obama administration's plan to reduce carbon emissions would hurt the U.S. economy and do little to address the global problem of carbon pollution.

Democrats are split, with liberals applauding the proposed regulations and moderates — especially those from coal-dependent states — distancing themselves from the plan.

Republicans have already injected the issue into the 2014 elections, using it to put Democrats on the spot in targeted races around the country.

The White House's draft proposal — unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency — is the centerpiece of Obama's climate change initiative. Power plants are the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., generating about 38 percent of the nation's heat-trapping gases.

The new rules — which will likely be finalized next summer — are designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Under the proposal, Missouri would have to achieve a 21 percent reduction in carbon emissions per megawatt hour of electricity by 2030. The state could do that through a combination of steps. Among the options are increasing use of renewable energy sources or switching coal-fueled power plants to natural gas.

The McConnell legislation, which Blunt co-sponsored, would require that before any new regulation be implemented to limit carbon emissions from new or existing power plants, Executive Branch officials would have to certify that the rules would not:

• Result in any job losses

• Reduce the U.S. gross domestic product

• Increase electricity rates

• Disrupt the reliability of electricity delivery

Experts say there's little chance that the new regulations could meet all of those standards.

It would be "exceptionally difficult," said Jonathan Adler, a professor of environmental law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

So, the impact of the bill would be to prevent the regulations from going into effect.

What are the prospects that the bill could pass this Congress?

"Virtually nil," Adler said. Even if it did pass, he noted, Obama would veto it.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., echoed that assessment.

"I don't think it's going to go anywhere," she said of the McConnell-Blunt bill. She said it sounds more like a way to "score political points" than to reach a compromise on the issue.

McCaskill has not taken a position on the White House plan, saying she wants to hear from Missouri stakeholders and see what kind of proposal the state might put together to meet the target.

"I just believe in a moderate approach to this," she said. "I'm going to reserve judgment until we know more."