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Environment

EPA is sued over carbon emissions

May 8, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 19

A coalition of states, cities, and conservation groups is challenging the Bush Administration's decision not to limit CO2 emissions from new power plants and industrial facilities across the nation. The Clean Air Act requires that EPA review and revise emissions standards for new stationary pollution sources every eight years to ensure that they protect public health and the environment. In February, EPA issued new source performance standards but declined to regulate CO2, the principal greenhouse gas. The agency argues that the Clean Air Act does not authorize it to regulate emissions to reduce global warming and maintains that there are not enough scientific data to support such a move. But in lawsuits filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., the petitioners assert that EPA has clear authority under the law to set limits on emissions linked to global warming. "In defense of public health, the environment, and our economy, power plants must be required to sharply reduce their greenhouse gas emissions," New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says. Lisa M. Jaeger, a partner in the Washington office of the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani and a former acting EPA general counsel, notes that in July 2005, a three-judge panel of the same D.C. appellate court upheld EPA's decision not to regulate CO2 emissions from cars and trucks. In addition to the State of New York, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and New York City are participating in the lawsuit. A coalition of environmental organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and Environmental Defense, filed a related petition.

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