Chamber of Commerce Challenges EPA on Greenhouse Gas Regulation

August 18, 2010

Fair Warning

Elise Craig

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is challenging in federal appeals court the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

The challenge came in a suit filed Friday with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. It contests a December finding by the EPA that greenhouse gases pose a danger to human health and welfare.  That endangerment finding, Greenwire reports, paved the way for the agency’s new regulations on emissions from cars and light-duty trucks, as well from sources such as power plants, refineries and factories.

Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber’s National Chamber Litigation Center, said her organization does not question the science behind the EPA’s finding. Instead, the Chamber is contending that greenhouse gases should not fall under the authority of the Clean Air Act. In a statement, Conrad said the act “simply was never intended to regulate something as complex as global climate change.”

Conrad said the Chamber, which was joined in its suit by the advocacy group the Coalition for Responsible Regulation,  also is concerned the EPA’s decision will cost jobs and hurt local economies.  Dozens of states, businesses and trade associations have also asked the agency to reconsider its ruling.

In late July, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson rejected 10 petitions that challenged the EPA’s findings, saying that they “assert a conspiracy” that is not borne out by science.

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