10 States Sue EPA Over Global Warming - News

[Guest guest]

" Zepp " <zepp

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:21:09 -0700

[Zepps_News] 10 States Sue EPA Over Global Warming - News

 

 

 

http://news./s/ap/20060427/ap_on_go_ot/global_warming_states

 

 

10 States Sue EPA Over Global Warming

 

By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 35 minutes ago

 

 

WASHINGTON - Ten states fired a new legal salvo at the federal

government Thursday in a long-running court battle over global warming

and pollution from power plants.

 

 

The states, joined by environmental groups, sued the

Environmental Protection Agency over its decision not to regulate carbon

dioxide pollution as a contributor to global warming.

 

New York, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico,

Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin filed the lawsuit in the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

 

The states, led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, want the

government to require tighter pollution controls on the newest

generation of power plants.

 

" We feel it's incumbent on EPA to regulate carbon emissions from those

power plants now in order to help us get our arms around global

warming, " said Spitzer spokesman Marc Violette.

 

Also joining the lawsuit are the cities of Washington and New York, as

well as Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, and

Sierra Club.

 

New York and other states have fought with the Bush administration for

years over carbon dioxide emissions.

 

In July 2005, a three-judge panel in the same court upheld the EPA's

decision not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from cars and trucks

under the Clean Air Act. The agency argues the law does not authorize

them to regulate emissions to reduce global warming, and maintains there

is not enough scientific data to support such a move.

 

The lawsuit was filed largely in response to the 2005 ruling, in the

hopes that the courts will rule specifically whether the Clean Air Act

can be used to fight global warming.

 

" We think this is the case that will decide that question, " said Natural

Resources Defense Council lawyer David Doniger.

 

An EPA spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment.

 

Environmentalists say 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the

United States come from power plants. Carbon dioxide is believed to be

the greatest single contributor to global warming.

 

A growing number of scientific studies bolster the theory that increased

levels of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases are accumulating in

the atmosphere, where they trap heat and raise the earth's average

temperature.

 

 

--