A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit from a number of states, including Virginia, that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s findings that greenhouse gas emissions may “reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health.”
The challenge had stemmed from the EPA’s endangerment finding in December 2009, which was followed by subsequent regulations on carbon emissions.
The states of Texas, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah were also part of the lawsuit.
“Instead of focusing on the question whether greenhouse gas emissions may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare, the factors State and Industry Petitioners put forth only address what might happen were EPA to answer that question in the affirmative,” reads the opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “State Petitioners fail to cite any record evidence to suggest that they are adversely affected by global climate change.”
Mr. Cuccinelli said that the EPA should have reconsidered its endangerment finding in the wake of the “Climategate” scandal in 2009, when climate change skeptics seized upon a number of leaked e-mails from the University of East Anglia to accuse scientists of manipulating data to influence their research on global warming.
Virginia intends to petition the Supreme Court to review the case, Mr. Cuccinelli said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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