States Sue Bush Over Global Warming

Eighteen states, two cities and eleven environmental organizations have filed suit against the Bush Administration in order to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to abide by an April '07 Supreme Court decision which instructed the EPA to conduct research on whether carbon dioxide emissions can endanger public health and welfare.

Since the ruling was released, the EPA has not followed the direction of the Court and has failed to provide any research results on the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on public health and welfare. This lawsuit is designed to compel the EPA to complete the research and provide findings within 60 days.

The EPA argues that the Supreme Court did not set a deadline for the research when it first released the decision. The EPA claims that the reason for the delay is that they are planning a broad, comprehensive study that will cover all types of pollution producers to determine a more holistic approach to regulating greenhouse gases. Critics argue that this is just a stall tactic by a politically charged EPA.

Congress has investigated the delay of the EPA's research during hearings before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as well as the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. During hearings, Members of Congress have not been kind to the EPA in their comments. "This is the latest quack from a lame-duck EPA intent on running out the clock ... without doing a thing to combat global warming," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.

One of the more shocking revelations to come out of this debate over the EPA and carbon dioxide emissions was the admission by senior EPA officials that research completed in early December '07 clearly indicated the harmful effects of carbon dioxide on the climate. As a result of these findings, a draft regulation was written and released to the White House & Transportation Department that would affect the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air by vehicles. The regulation was killed abruptly by the EPA Administrator for apparently political reasons.

The EPA has been in the news a lot recently for making last minute changes to scientifically-based regulations in order to satisfy certain politically connected groups and the White House.