Washington, D.C., March 27, 2008—In response to a major Supreme Court decision concerning regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency today it will be seeking public comment on the issue.
 
Statement of Marlo Lewis, CEI Senior Fellow, on EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson's decision to draft an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to discuss and solicit public comment on EPA's response to the Supreme Court global warming case, Massachusetts v EPA.

CEI congratulates Mr. Johnson for his prudent decision. In his letters today to Sens. Boxer and Inhofe and Reps. Dingell and Barton, Johnson sets forth several complex issues that EPA must resolve before finalizing its response to the Court. These include the relationship between recent statutory changes in EPA's responsibilities regarding fuel economy and renewable fuel standards and the new auto emission standards that might result from the Court case, and, above all, how such emission standards might affect "many sources beyond just the cars and trucks considered by the Court, including schools, hospitals, power plants, aircraft, and ships."
 
EPA's approach is consistent with and indeed respectful of the Court's directive in Mass. v. EPA. Contrary to the spin we often hear, the Court did not order EPA to set emission standards for new motor vehicles, nor even to make an endangerment determination concerning greenhouse gases.  The Court simply said that EPA must base its "action or inaction" on reasons "grounded in the statute."
 
Mr. Johnson correctly concluded that soliciting public input through an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) is the best approach, because it will provide "the appropriate care and attention this complex issue demands."

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