Environmentalists Ask EPA to Regulate GHG Emissions

More than 100 environmental groups have signed a petition calling on EPA to begin regulating GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act, E&E News PM reported. At the same time, several groups declined to join the petition on the grounds that it was the wrong way to limit GHG emissions.

Center for Biological Diversity senior counsel Bill Snape said many larger environmental groups were wary of joining the petition because of uncertainty around the United Nations-led Copenhagen climate talks and congressional debate on the climate bill. Snape claimed that "you will see some of those groups climb on board to this effort." Meanwhile, NASA climate scientist James Hansen stated that EPA regulation "would mark a critical step in the fight against global warming, and this petition is one way to bring us closer to that goal."

Among the groups co-signing the letter were the Allegheny Defense Project, Audubon South Carolina, Clean Air Carolina, Climate Law & Policy Project, Corporate Ethics International, EPIC - the Environmental Protection Information Center, Friends of the Earth, Global Warming Education Network, Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network, NC WARN: North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, SafeEnergyAnalyst.org, Sustainable Energy & Economy Network, Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, West Coast Climate Equity and the Wintu Tribe.