US Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) offered a measure on January 21 to overturn the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), putting a new edge on a conflict about environmental policy, according to “The Wall Street Journal.”

The senator offered a “resolution of disapproval” after picking up support from lawmakers including Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D.-AR), who is vulnerable as a Democrat of losing her seat in the November mid-term elections. The resolution would block an EPA finding that greenhouse gases pose a danger to the public, a legal prerequisite for regulating, according to the report.

Warnings that the EPA regulations will cause economic hardship play to fears of joblessness as the US unemployment rate remains stuck at 10%.

It is not clear when the resolution will come up for a Senate vote, but the “Wall Street Journal” writer says the disapproval resolution represents the start of an effort by Republicans to take on the US President Barak Obama administration about environmental policy.

Warnings that the EPA regulations will cause economic hardship play to fears of joblessness as the US unemployment rate remains stuck at 10%. Democrats have argued that steering the US toward clean energy will create millions of new jobs. Republicans counter that rules to curb greenhouse gas regulations will cost jobs in traditional industries.