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Old 09-18-2006, 11:20 AM   #2
BlueStar
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Location: Some state's capitol building
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On a side note: SCOTUS will be taking on global warming this term...

The high court takes up one of the most hotly debated environmental issues of the time-global warming-in a challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's interpretation of the Clean Air Act. Massachusetts v. EPA, No. 05-1120.

The case involves whether greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks should be regulated by the EPA under the Clean Air Act because of their contribution to global warming. The agency in 2003 concluded that it had no authority to regulate air pollutants associated with climate change, regardless of the state of the scientific evidence. It also concluded that the four substances covered by a petition seeking regulatory standards were not "air pollutants" within the meaning of the Clean Air Act.

Thirty parties, including 16 states, unsuccessfully appealed the agency's decision to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

In the high court, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly argues, "The ruling in this case is an extreme departure from this Court's precedents on statutory interpretation. To allow this decision to stand would be to sanction an enormous shift of power to administrative agencies, effectively letting them dismantle statutory regimes they simply do not like."

The Bush administration argues that petitioners have no standing and that the agency identified "a variety of sensible and appropriate reasons -- including the complex and highly uncertain nature of the scientific record" for its conclusion that even if it had authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles, "an endangerment finding would be inappropriate at this time."

 
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