EPA Ruling Under Bipartisan Assault

WASHINGTON—Sen. Lisa Murkowski offered Thursday a measure to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's plans to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions, putting a new edge on a conflict over environmental policy.

The Republican lawmaker offered a "resolution of disapproval" after picking up support from lawmakers including Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.), who is high on the list of Democrats at risk of losing their seats in the November midterm elections. The resolution would block an EPA finding that greenhouse gases pose a danger to the public, a legal pre-requisite for regulating.

"We should continue our work to pass meaningful energy and climate legislation, but in the meantime, we cannot turn a blind eye to the EPA's efforts to impose back-door climate regulations with no input from Congress," Ms. Murkowski (R., Alaska) said on the Senate floor.

It isn't clear when the resolution will come up for a Senate vote. Still, the disapproval resolution represents the start of an effort by Republicans to take on the Obama administration over environmental policy. Republicans are newly emboldened by a victory in Massachusetts earlier this week, when Republican Scott Brown won a seat long held by Democrats and took away a key Democratic advantage.