By Avery Palmer, CQ Staff

Sen. George V. Voinovich is blocking Senate confirmation of the EPA’s deputy administrator because of concern with the agency’s economic analysis of the House energy bill.

In a June 13 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson , the Ohio Republican said he has a procedural hold on Robert Perciasepe, President Obama’s nominee for the No. 2 position at the agency.

Voinovich said his hold was unrelated to the nominee himself. Instead, he is dissatisfied with an EPA report on the economic effects of a climate change bill (HR 2454) that passed the House in June.

“To help Congress fully understand how this bill would affect consumers and the economy, I ask again that EPA provide reliable and realistic analysis by addressing the remaining flaws in its modeling,” he wrote.

EPA released two reports this year that showed the bill would have a relatively modest economic impact, helping to ease its passage in the House. But Voinovich wrote that the analysis “contains significant flaws that mask the economic consequences of the bill.”

Specifically, he wrote the agency may have been too optimistic in predicting the deployment of low-carbon energy technologies. The agency may also have overestimated the availability of special projects in sectors such as agriculture and forestry that could lower the bill’s cost, he wrote.

Voinovich said he would request a “refined analysis” from the EPA in the next few days.

Perciasepe was assistant administrator for the EPA water and air offices under the Clinton administration, and is now chief operating officer at the National Audubon Society. Voinovich is a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which has not yet voted on the nomination.