Statement of Clean Air Task Force and Conservation Law Foundation re: District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling Upholding EPA Decisions to Limit Climate Pollution

CONTACT:

For CATF: Stuart Ross, (914) 649-5037
For CLF: Karen Wood, (617) 850-1722, (978) 857-5389

BOSTON, MA  July 26, 2013 – The Clean Air Task Force and Conservation Law Foundation applauded a DC Circuit Court ruling today which again strongly affirmed that the Clean Air Act authorizes the government to act to control climate pollution. Today’s ruling came in response to industry and two states’ (Texas and Wyoming) challenges to EPA’s federal permitting decisions for large industrial facilities emitting that pollution.

The ruling in Texas v. EPA, D.C. Cir. No. 10-1425 (consolidated with UARG v. EPA, D.C. Cir. No. 11-1037) sends a clear message for the states and EPA to get on with the job of regulating greenhouse gases as required by the Clean Air Act. “Most significantly,” said Ann Weeks, of the Clean Air Task Force, which represented Conservation Law Foundation in this case, “the ruling states that the Clean Air Act’s permitting provisions are ‘unambiguously self-executing’ with respect to  climate pollution–and states may no longer delay or resist them.”

Taken together with recent decisions upholding EPA’s initial determination to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and requiring power plants and other large climate polluters to obtain air permits limiting their emissions, it is clear that the Clean Air Act can and does compel reductions in climate pollution, and that such requirements are by operation of law and don’t require affirmative state action.

Large power plants and industrial facilities are responsible for approximately half of the country’s climate air pollution emissions.

Jonathan Peress, VP and director of Clean Energy and Climate Change at Conservation Law Foundation, said, “This decision represents a critical step forward in addressing climate change and demonstrates that the Clean Air Act is a critical tool for much-needed immediate action to combat climate pollution.”