WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee has canceled a vote on a controversial clean-air bill that targeted California, effectively killing the bill for this year.
The move comes after opposition from Democrats, environmentalists and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the bill introduced last week by Environment Committee Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla. The legislation would have cranked up penalties for the nation's most polluted air regions, which are both in California, and denied highway funds to California if the state didn't submit clean-up plans.
Inhofe is an outspoken skeptic of global warming, and California Democrats accused him of retaliating against the state over its recent passage of landmark legislation to reduce greenhouse gases believed to contribute to global warming.
Inhofe denied that accusation, but agreed to pull the legislation from committee votes set for this week after Democrats requested a hearing on the bill, spokesman Matt Dempsey said Tuesday.
EDIT
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15501009.htm