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Court denies Texas request for stay of new EPA rules

By Drew Singer

[JURIST] The state of Texas on Wednesday failed for the third time in two months at its attempts to block new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia [official website] denied the state's request to block the program [Politico report], which allocates greenhouse gas emission permits under the Clean Air Act [materials]. Texas is the only state in the nation to not allow permits for carbon dioxide permits to be distributed, neither by the federal government nor itself. Texas had also attempted to block the regulations in December in the District of Columbia court and a New Orleans federal appeals court. Those supporting the regulations say that Texas is stalling projects to continue its grandstanding, while the state has indicated that it will continue [Dallas Morning News report] numerous remaining challenges of the new rules.

Last year the US Senate [official website] defeated a resolution [materials] aimed at limiting the ability of the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions [JURIST report] under the Clean Air Act. The measure, introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) [official website], was defeated by a vote of 53 to 47 with six Democratic senators joining the Republican caucus in supporting the measure. The US Supreme Court affirmed the EPA's ability to regulate carbon emissions under the Clear Air Act in its 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report]. In its ruling, the court held that if the EPA could show a link between greenhouse gas emissions and public health and welfare then the act gives it the power to regulate emissions. The EPA announced last December [JURIST report] that it had found that greenhouse gases "threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations," and that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to greenhouse gas pollution.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 12, 2011 (boomark / email).