SACRAMENTO -- The state of California is prepared to take the federal government to court to enforce its long-delayed greenhouse gas (GHG) curbs.
Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday he would sue the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a "waiver" letting the state enforce strict GHG laws. The waiver has been on hold since December 2005.
"The clock is ticking...if we don't see quick action from the federal government, we will sue the U.S. EPA," Schwarzenegger told yesterday's Milken Institute Global Conference.
The governor's staff yesterday gave the EPA a required six months notice of an intent to sue under the federal Clean Air Act.
California officials fear more federal foot-dragging after public statements by an EPA official yesterday, the
LA Times reported. Acting Office of Air and Radiation chief William Wehrum linked granting the waiver to discovering whether GHGs "endanger" public health.
Earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could, despite its objections, regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants. That decisions was expected to hasten California's enforcement of its GHG restrictions,
LegalNewsLine reported.
Wehrum said the EPA now needs to decide on linking California's waiver to a determination of whether GHGs are found to endanger public health. If not, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, the EPA isn't required to regulate them.
That assertion drew an angry reaction from California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who said the EPA has "no legal basis" for making such a connection. He said the Golden State should receive its waiver after waiting two years with no response.
"If they're now going to sabotage the clean air process by pretending they don't know that greenhouse gases are harmful...that would not be a decision based on science or the law, but a decision based on raw politics," Brown stated.
The so-called "Big Six" car-makers have already sued California and several other states to prevent GHG restrictions from being made law.
