[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Senate Republicans advance fiscal 2016 spending bill for the EPA and Interior Department[/title][fusion_text]Friday, June 19th 2015
Senate Republicans advanced a fiscal 2016 spending bill for the EPA and Interior Department including provisions that block some key environmental regulations and endangered species listings. Over the opposition of Democrats, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the bill along party lines (14-16) after adding a provision that would bar the Fish and Wildlife Service from enforcing its listing of the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act. The bill already included policy riders that would block the Obama administration from lowering its ozone standard or from implementing rules that would re-define the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction and reduce carbon emissions from electric utilities. Other existing riders would ban the Interior Department from listing the greater sage-grouse as an endangered or threatened species and would delist the gray wolf in Wyoming and the Great Lake states, preventing judicial review. An amendment proposed by Jerry Moran, R-Kan., to block ESA protection for the lesser prairie chicken was adopted in committee mark up Thursday. The House version of the bill – which is expected to be on the House floor next week – includes all but the lesser prairie chicken provision.
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