States’ Suit Seeks to Force EPA Action on Greenhouse Gases
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have sued the Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to force regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
The lawsuit contends the administration has not complied with a year-old U.S. Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, the Environment News Service says. The decision held the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and could not decline to exercise that authority based on policy preferences, the news service says.
The plaintiffs say the EPA has determined greenhouse gases are endangering the public, but the agency has not gone on to issue regulations on vehicle emissions. The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to compel the EPA to act in 60 days, the Washington Post reports.
A report by a congressional committee said the EPA review process stalled after it sent its conclusions about public endangerment to the White House, the Post story says. Another congressional committee, the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, voted yesterday to subpoena EPA documents about the case and about the agency’s decision to block California from regulating tailpipe emissions.
The suit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the cities of New York and Baltimore and 13 environmental groups.
