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State AGs Ask New EPA Administrator for Quick Action on Mass. v. EPA Ruling

by Climate Weekly – Feb. 10, 2009

The attorney generals for 18 states sent a letter to new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson urging her to set into motion regulations that echo the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, where the Court held that the Clean Air Act requires the federal government to officially determine whether greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles are endangering the health and welfare of the public.

AGs Letter To EPA

Download the AGs letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson requesting swift action in follow up to the Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which, despite being issued nearly two years ago, on April 2, 2007, has not led to any formal agency action to date.

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Supreme Court's Ruling in Mass. v. EPA

In the case, the state AGs challenged the EPA's refusal to regulate GHG emissions from motor vehicles pursuant to the Act. The Court ruled that the EPA not only had the authority to regulate GHG gases, but that it improperly relied on policy grounds when denying a rulemaking petition filed under the Act. When the Court handed down its ruling, it specifically stated that the EPA had to determine whether GHGs from new motor vehicles cause or contribute to air pollution that endangers public health or welfare.

"In the last two years, we made repeated requests to your predecessor to act on the the remand by issuing the required endangerment determination," the AGs wrote in their letter.