New Jersey Attorney General Urges EPA to Act on Greenhouse Gas Regulation as Directed by U.S. Supreme Court

January 23, 2008 -- TRENTON -- New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced today that New Jersey has signed onto a multi-state letter to the federal Environmental Protection Agency expressing concern that EPA is “unreasonably delaying” action it was directed to take by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

The Supreme Court ruled in April 2007 that the EPA, despite its assertion to the contrary, has authority under the federal Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. The court also found that EPA used improper grounds to deny a rulemaking petition filed by the states that asked EPA to do so. The court ordered EPA to revisit the states’ rulemaking petition, to determine whether greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles cause harmful air pollution and, if so, to develop regulations governing such emissions.

According to Milgram, EPA indicated on several occasions in 2007 that it was moving forward on the Supreme Court’s directive and that it intended to announce draft regulations for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by year’s end. Despite its commitment, which the EPA formalized in a regulatory plan published in December 2007, EPA allowed 2007 to come and go without taking any action, and has provided no specific sense of when or how it intends to proceed.

“Despite a compelling body of scientific evidence concerning the relationship between air pollutants and global warming, and despite having been directed to act on the regulation of greenhouse gases by the U.S Supreme Court, the EPA continues to drag its feet,” said Attorney General Milgram.

“The time for talk is over,” Milgram continued. “New Jersey has made a firm commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to protect our citizens and our natural resources. It is well past time for the federal government to make the same commitment by performing its statutory duty, as directed by the court.”

”Once again the federal government's lack of action defies all logic and obfuscates justice by failing to protect public health,” said New Jersey DEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson. ”In New Jersey, motor vehicles account for the largest portion of the state's total greenhouse gas emissions.”

Addressed to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, the multi-state letter requests that EPA furnish specifics about how it intends to comply with the court mandate in writing by February 27, 2008. The letter warns that further “unreasonable delay” will result in legal action to enforce the court’s directive.

In addition to New Jersey, the letter to EPA has been signed by Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington state. The City of Baltimore and the City of New York have signed on as well.

Deputy Attorneys General Jung Kim and Lisa Morelli, assigned to the Division of Law’s Environmental Enforcement Section, are handling the matter on behalf of the State.

Source: New Jersey Attorney General

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