Federal Judges Allow Greenhouse Gas Rules to Go Forward

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today denied requests from numerous industry groups and their allies that sought to halt regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency to control greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and power plants and other large sources.

The EPA rules include an "endangerment" finding, which confirmed that carbon dioxide and other pollutants contributing to climate change jeopardize human health and the environment, and regulations establishing first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards for motor vehicles and for power plants and large stationary sources.

These rules were challenged by multiple parties including electric utilities, coal companies, and other industrial interests, as well as members of Congress and numerous states.  Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was among those to challenge the endangerment finding upon which the other regulations are based.  Various of these plaintiffs (not including Attorney General Cuccinelli) had filed motions to stay these EPA regulations while the D.C. court considers the underlying challenges. The court rejected all these motions, allowing the regulations to take effect January 3. The court will hear the merits of the legal challenges next year.

"This is a sound ruling that allows these landmark regulations to take effect while the legal issues are aired fully before the court, rather than be delayed, as industry and its allies would prefer," said SELC senior attorney Frank Rambo.

"As Virginians, we continue to urge Attorney General Cuccinelli to withdraw his challenge and stand down in his misguided battle to prevent the EPA from doing its job to protect the environment and public health.

"Let's use those taxpayer dollars on pursuing opportunities for the Commonwealth, like growing our clean energy sector to help create new jobs." 

The Southern Environmental Law Center represents several groups as intervening parties in two of the legal issues subject to today's ruling.

-- On behalf of the Norfolk-based Wetlands Watch, SELC intervened on the side of the EPA in Cuccinelli's lawsuit against the agency. The overwhelming body of scientific evidence going back several decades supporting EPA's determination that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions jeopardize human health, coupled with the long-standing practice of courts deferring to agencies on matters within their areas of expertise, render the legal merits of Cuccinelli's endangerment challenge highly questionable.

-- On behalf of Wild Virginia and Georgia Forest Watch, SELC intervened to defend EPA's "tailoring" rule, which will regulate global warming pollution from large industrial facilities. Specifically, the environmental groups defend the agency's inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions from burning biomass in the regulations.  Burning woody materials, grasses and other biomass can be a significant component of the effort to achieve climate benefits by shifting America away from fossil fuels-but only if the biomass is sourced and accounted for properly-so that the carbon emitted when biomass is burned equals or is less than the carbon taken up by new plant growth.

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The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional conservation organization using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of 40 legal experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.

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