Monday, August 25, 2008

12 states sue EPA over refinery carbon emissions

From Reuters:
New York and 11 other states are suing federal environmental regulators over greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries, the New York attorney general's office said on Monday.

The suit, led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, charges that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the federal Clean Air Act by refusing to issue standards, known as new source performance standards, for controlling global warming pollution emissions from oil refineries.

"The EPA's refusal to control pollution from oil refineries is the latest example of the Bush Administration's do-nothing policy on global warming," Cuomo said in a release. "Oil refineries contribute substantially to global warming, posing grave threats to New York's environment, health, and economy."

In ruling last year, the Supreme Court found that the EPA has the power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Since then, the EPA head has said it is Congress' job to regulate emissions of gases blamed for warming the planet....MORE

Two points:

1) This is a very big deal.

2) This is one of the few journalists who appear to have read the Supreme Court's decision. You can tell from the "EPA has the power to regulate..." vs. the standard "ordered the EPA to regulate" that most media outlets have gone with.