Jonathan Lash, president of the environmental group World Resources Institute, said today that a potential amendment from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, that would block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases won't be a "proxy" for climate change legislation in the Senate, but that "it will certainly be seen as a test."

Speaking to reporters after a briefing today at the National Press Club, Lash said that a number of senators are adamantly against the EPA regulating greenhouse gas emissions but still support passing comprehensive climate change legislation. And those senators, he said, could be "tempted to vote for the Murkowski amendment."

Murkowski's office has not said when the senator, the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will file the amendment. There was talk that she would attach it to a debt ceiling bill the Senate plans to take up this month, but spokeswoman Anne Johnson said details of an amendment have not been finalized. Murkowski filed a similar amendment in September that failed, and last month she led GOP efforts (subscription) to file a resolution disapproving of EPA regulation.

Murkowski's office agrees with Lash that the amendment isn't meant to be a proxy. The amendment would "simply allow Congress some time and breathing room to create a workable climate bill," Johnson said in an e-mail. "Some in the Obama administration may not be happy about this effort," she added. "But it's time for them to admit that the threat of EPA climate regulations is not having the desired effect of leveraging congressional action -- it is backfiring because people don't like to be threatened."

Lash also pointed out that the House climate change bill does include provisions restricting the EPA's regulatory power on emissions. "And we all supported Waxman-Markey," Lash said. "It seemed like a trade we didn't like, but understood." Regardless, Lash said he was confident that the amendment -- if and when Murkowski files it -- won't pass: "I don't think she'll get 60 votes. I hope she won't get 50."

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