Texas and Others Challenge EPA

The state of Texas, along with free-market and climate change “skeptic groups” are seeking to have a federal appeals court review the finding by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that held that greenhouse gases (GHGs) “threaten human health and welfare,” according to the New York Times’ Robin Bravender.

Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Texas Agriculture Commission, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and Barry Smitherman, Chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, filed their petition challenging the endangerment finding with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

As Bravender reports, last December the EPA issued its endangerment determination at the same time that Congress was working to determine, what, if anything the Congress would do to combat climate change. With the new rule, the EPA has the power to implement regulations to curb GHGs from certain sources. Some fear that future regulations could negatively impact current agricultural practices.

Naturally, environmental organizations are critical of the Texas challenge. Bravender quotes Environment Defense Fund Texas regional director Jim Martson as stating, ‘"The lawsuit filed by Governor Perry is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to ignore the Supreme Court's decision in U.S. vs. Massachusetts. . . Their action invokes memories of a sad time in Texas history from the '50s, when Texas politicians sought to nullify decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only is it legally unsound, it puts Texas on the side of the 1950s economy, against the clean energy economy of the future."

Bravender reports that Texas also filed a petition asking the EPA to reconsider the “endangerment” and “cause” findings for GHGs under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act. The state is essentially asking Administrator Jackson to review her previous decision. Bravender writes that the state believes the finding by the EPA is “legally unsupported because it relies heavily on reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).”

For their part, the EPA defended its findings as sound and based on science and “thousands of public comments submitted in an open and transparent process [.]” The agency is confident the finding will withstand the legal challenges.

In addition to Texas, also filing petitions against the rule (today is the last day to file petitions challenging the rule) is a “coalition of conservative think tanks and global warming skeptic groups [.]” Included among think tanks and groups are the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Freedom Works, along with organizations like the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change and Science and Environmental Policy Project.

The court is likely to take up the petitions following today’s filing deadline.

To read the Texas petition to the appeals court click here.

To read Texas’ petition to the EPA, click here.

To read Bravender’s article for the New York Times, click here.

Posted: 02/17/10