The Lawsuits Begin | Green Energy News

February 16, 2003 – Vol.7 No.47

THE LAWSUITS BEGIN.

Here in the Mid-Atlantic states we’ve gone from extreme drought to record breaking precipitation (snow in this case) in less than six months. Though it may never be possible to pinpoint one weather event as being caused by climate change, unusual, and costly, weather patterns should ring some alarm bells - particularly for those who have to pay for the consequences. (Which, as it turns out, is all of us.) State and local governments, in particular, that spend taxpayer dollars on snow clean-up, to repair damaged infrastructure, or for life saving emergencies, can be hard hit financially when the weather goes to extremes.

Taking action to mitigate climate change in the U.S. may not begin in the halls of Congress or the White House, it may start in the court room.

Seven state’s attorneys general - six of them from states hit by last weekend’s record-breaking snowstorm - plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The joint lawsuit by New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington state claims that the Clean Air Act should be updated to include the regulation of carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas. The attorneys general contend that carbon dioxide is harmful in that it will cause more disease, health problems, weather extremes, droughts and floods.

The attorneys also say that the Clean Air Act requires that the EPA review and revise the regulation every eight years. But the Act hasn’t been updated in 20 years, according to them. Analysts think the seven states have a good chance of winning their case in court.