Massachusetts v. EPA

Tomorrow morning, led by Massachusetts, twelve states, three cities, the government of the American Samoa, and thirteen environmental groups, will appear before the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, which is joined by ten states and numerous motor vehicle companies. The case is explained in more detail in an article from The Washington Post.

Though the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, maintains that it lacks the authority, the plaintiffs argue that it is the EPA's responsibility to place limits on carbon emissions which "have been shown to hasten climate change." More specifically, the Supreme Court will decide whether greenhouse gasses can be defined as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, which would place them under the EPA's authority. As the EPA officials have been appointed by the Bush administration, they are following Bush's lead in preferring "voluntary" reduction of emission rather than government regulation. In other words, as is clear by the EPA's fellow defendants, the Bush administration is siding with industry over the environment. A decision is expected mid-2007.