Office of the Attorney General: Statement on EPA's Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Regulation of Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

July 11, 2008

BOSTON — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” (ANPR) seeking public comment on using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. According to the document, the ANPR “presents information relevant to, and solicits public comment on, how to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA.”

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley issues the following statement on today’s development.

“The EPA’s response today to last year’s Supreme Court ruling is wholly inadequate. The Administrator essentially said that he is not moving forward with regulation under the Clean Air Act because he thinks such regulation would be a bad idea. The Supreme Court flatly rejected that position in Massachusetts v. EPA. Although I have no doubt that Congress could and should enact new statutory tools, this does not mean that the EPA should not move forward using existing authority. The documents released by the EPA illustrate how using the regulatory authority provided by the Clean Air Act could be a very effective tool for combating global warming. In particular, the EPA’s drafts acknowledge that the motor vehicle emission standards that the EPA was developing last year but has since abandoned could achieve substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, all the while saving consumers money. While we appreciate the effort that EPA staff made in putting together today’s documents, the time has long passed for open-ended pondering—what we need now is action. The Clean Air Act provides the EPA both the authority and responsibility to tackle global warming, and the EPA’s continued refusal to use its authority is unconscionable.”