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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Court denies Texas' attempt to wriggle out of greenhouse regulation

Posted By SA DAILY on Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 10:11 AM

Texas' ongoing lawsuits and appeals aimed at stopping federally mandated greenhouse-gas regulation of industry suffered yet another setback yesterday (the day our update on the case hit the racks) when a D.C. appeals court lifted a stay preventing the EPA from taking over greenhouse permitting in the state. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's requested the stay on December 30.

ENS quotes EDF's Jim Marson as saying:

"Governor [Rick] Perry and Attorney General Abbott have now wasted millions of taxpayer dollars losing multiple frivolous lawsuits that only served to protect major polluters from a law that all other 49 state are following.

"As the Legislature convenes this week facing an estimated $27 billion dollar budget shortfall, we can only hope that the governor and attorney general will decide to fire Exxon's Yankee lawyers who he has representing his office and let Texas use that money for state services that help people, not on polluting their air."

What the enviro groups (Sierra Club, EDF) did not do was back up assertions that Abbot's actions are delaying 167 construction projects in the state (as we thoughtfully reported for them this week). While that may become a reality in the months ahead, when asked, a spokesperson for the EPA said the agency had not received any applications for greenhouse permits and expected matters to be resolved before any projects were delayed.

Tags: Staff Blogs, texas, climate change, epa, tceq, greg abbott, greenhouse regulations, rick perry, edf, jim marston

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