Senate Commerce Republicans Blast NASA over ‘Highly Politicized’ Climate Regulation

Republicans on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee blasted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its “highly politicized” recent climate rule that could impact the agency’s mission.

The letter from 13 Republicans demands that NASA Administrator Bill Nelson rescind the agency’s proposed rule from November that requires federal contractors to calculate and disclose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and “climate-related financial risks,” in addition to having to reduce emissions as a condition for receiving a contract.

“Congress never granted NASA or the other partnering agencies the statutory authority to set the GHG emission standards for themselves or their contractors,” stated the 13 Republican lawmakers, led by Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee ranking member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

The letter is in response to NASA issuing a proposed rule alongside the Department of Defense and the General Services Administration on November 14. In addition to the disclosure requirement, contractors wishing to do business with the federal government would be required to disclose climate-related financial “risk” and have to set “science-based” targets to reduce their GHG emissions.

The lawmakers argued that the agency’s “highly politicized regulation” would make it harder for contractors, more costly for the agency, and distract it from NASA’s mission to “explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery.” 

“As for the environmental benefits, the proposed rule admits they would be hard to even quantify and that ‘increased public transparency and accountability may prompt suppliers to take action following a ‘what gets measured gets managed’ mantra,’” the letter said while acknowledging the “regulation is estimated to increase total costs among federal agencies and contractors by almost $4 billion.”

Furthermore, as the lawmakers acknowledged, the proposed rule would “outsource important decisions about policy tradeoffs to foreign, non-governmental organizations that have not been recognized by Congress” because the rule ultimately forces American contractors to adopt the agency’s rules. The letter further explains:

The costs to individual contractors, many of which are small businesses, would equal hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars upfront and annually thereafter. Smaller firms with limited streams of resources compared to larger companies may have to either exit the government contracting market or consolidate with other entities. In either scenario, there would be less competition, a major problem already facing federal contracting.

[…]

The proposed rule arbitrarily exempts tribes, non-profit organizations, universities, state and local governments, and “entities deriving at least 80 percent of annual revenue from federal management and operating contracts,” with no scientific explanation, making it appear the regulation has less to do with “science” and more to do with political favoritism toward special interest groups.

In addition to enriching the politically left-aligned consultants that will supposedly track a company’s impact on GHG emissions, there is no practical way to verify or audit the validity of these disclosures. This “data” may, however, lead to numerous lawsuits and enforcement actions that will add to the cost and delays associated with federal procurement. The only true beneficiaries of this proposed rule will be nonprofits, consultants, and trial lawyers claiming to be self-appointed guardians against weather-related catastrophe.

“This rule should be abandoned,” the 13 Republicans stated, acknowledging this attempt comes after “repeated failed attempts to enact radical environmental policies through legislation… [and] another example of the administration’s strategy to implement its agenda through unelected bureaucrats.”

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.