New England States, Environs Say EPA Ignoring Supreme Court Ruling on Greenhouse Gas Emisions: CLF Says Federal Inaction Highlights Need for States and Region to Continue to Lead on Global Warming

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Colin Durrant, CLF Director of Communications
617-850-1722

Boston, MA (April 2, 2008) – On the one year anniversary of a historic Supreme Court ruling on global warming, a group of states, cities and environmental organizations today are filing a petition charging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with failing to comply with the Court’s decision.

On April 2, 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act gives the EPA the authority to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming and required the agency to make a decision on whether it would use the Clean Air Act to regulate pollution, like carbon dioxide, from cars and trucks. A year later the EPA has not issued a decision. Today’s petition requests an order from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia requiring the EPA to act within 60 days.

The Conservation Law Foundation, the only New England-based non-governmental group that is a party to today’s petition and the original lawsuit, today said it is time for the EPA to live up to its responsibility to protect the public from the dangers of global warming.

“A year ago the Bush Administration was publicly rebuked in Court for its failure to use the Clean Air Act to curb global warming pollution from cars and trucks. Instead of acting to protect public health the Administration has chosen delay tactics,” said CLF President Phil Warburg. “The fact that states and groups representing citizens throughout the country have been forced to go to court to hold the EPA Administrator accountable for his failure to curb greenhouse gases highlights the need for states and regions (like New England) to push forward with our own measures to combat this fundamental problem.”

Emissions from cars and trucks remain the largest and fastest-growing source of global warming air pollution in New England, responsible for more than a third of the region’s greenhouse gas and ozone emissions.

To learn more about CLF’s work to combat global warming visit: www.clf.org.

To view the petition, please click here.

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The Conservation Law Foundation (www.clf.org) works to solve the most significant environmental challenges facing New England. CLF’s advocates use law, economics and science to create innovative strategies to conserve natural resources, protect public health and promote vital communities in our region. Founded, in 1966, CLF is a nonprofit, member-supported organization with offices in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.