Environmental Law

States, Enviros to Take Legal Action Against EPA over Greenhouse Delay

By Dennis Pfaff and Kevin Livingston, Editors

No surprise in this, except perhaps for the quick timing, but last week’s decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to go slow on regulating greenhouse gases looks like it's landing the agency back in court.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown, along with attorneys representing the state of Massachusetts, the Sierra Club and others are expected to announce Wednesday new legal action to force the EPA to move forward. The action coincides with the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which held that the agency had the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. In a statement, Brown’s office said Tuesday the legal maneuver would be taken to force the EPA “to obey” the decision.    

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson (pictured) sparked the ire of Democrats and environmentalists – and the praise of industry groups – by announcing that he wanted to avoid “rushing to judgment” on the issue. He laid out an administrative process to study the matter, citing the fact the EPA’s decision could have widespread ramifications beyond automobiles, which had been the immediate focus of the Supreme Court decision (see previous Climate Law Update stories here and here).

Critics of Johnson's move said it virtually guaranteed that the EPA would not act during the remainder of President Bush’s term in office, and threats to take the agency back to court flowed freely. The statement from Brown’s office Tuesday charged the EPA had extended “the time period another twelve months” until Bush leaves the White House.

Tuesday's announcement did not say specifically what legal avenue Brown and “dozens of states and national environmental groups” planned to take. But it said their action would be aimed at stopping the EPA “from continuing to ignore the Supreme Court.”

The Supreme Court ruling did not require the agency to issue regulations but it told the EPA it had to consider such issues as whether public health was endangered.

A spokesman for the EPA could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

(Photo of Stephen L. Johnson, courtesy EPA)

Full post as published by Climate Law Update on April 01, 2008 (boomark / email).