Perry, other Texas leaders sue EPA over finding on greenhouse gases - Fort Worth Star Telegram

Perry, other Texas leaders sue EPA over finding on greenhouse gases - Fort Worth Star Telegram

AUSTIN -- Escalating an attack on the Obama administration's environmental policies, Gov. Rick Perry and other state officials filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the EPA's 2-month-old finding that greenhouse gases significantly endanger public health.

Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples announced the lawsuit at a joint news conference, contending that the declaration is based on bogus conclusions and could cause billions of dollars in economic damage to Texas.

"The EPA's misguided plan paints a big target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy producers and the hundreds of thousands of Texans they employ," Perry said.

But EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz defended the policy, which is expected to result in more vigorous enforcement of clean-air standards.

Texas' '35 percent'

"Today's action is not surprising," said Armendariz, who has criticized the state's regulation of industrial polluters. "Texas has been on the record in opposing the EPA's common-sense approach to begin reducing harmful greenhouse gases.

"Texas contributes up to 35 percent of the industrial greenhouse gases in the United States," he said. "I believe Texas should be leading the way, not fighting with unnecessary litigation."

Armendariz said he is confident that the finding "will withstand legal challenge."

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Perry's leading challenger in the three-way Republican race for the gubernatorial nomination, also released a statement condemning the EPA policy, saying it will "lead to disaster for the Texas economy."

Hutchison and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are co-sponsoring a resolution denouncing the EPA's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases.

Environmentalists critical

Environmental groups asserted that Perry and the other leaders are ignoring scientific evidence about the dangers of greenhouse gases.

Austin leaders of Public Citizen and the Sierra Club went to Perry's second-floor office in the state Capitol to serve him with a symbolic "citizen citation" demanding that the governor "cease and desist endangering the health of breathers, the economy and the climate in Texas."

"This morning, Gov. Perry attempted to show Texas voters that he is bigger than both Texas and federal law," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office.

The suit was filed in Washington in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The state also announced a "petition for reconsideration" with the Environmental Protection Agency, calling on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to review the policy.

Abbott said other states may file similar lawsuits. At least 16 states and New York City have intervened in favor of the EPA's stance.

The EPA declared in December that carbon dioxide emissions constitute a threat to public health, opening the door to further regulation to control greenhouse gases. The policy could have far-reaching effects in Texas, which produces more carbon dioxide than any other state.


Texas' large carbon footprint comes from emissions generated by millions of vehicles -- many of them in the state's five biggest metropolitan regions -- as well as from the petrochemical plants, refineries and other heavy industries along the Gulf Coast.

'Flawed' decision

Perry told Jackson in a letter shortly after the ruling that her agency's mandate is based on distorted scientific claims and could wither jobs and the economy.

In their 38-page legal petition, the state officials said the Dec. 15 "Endangerment Finding" will lead to "unprecedented bureaucratic licensing and regulatory burdens on farmers, ranchers, small businesses, hospitals and even schools."

Abbott said the finding is legally unsupported because of the agency's reliance on the International Panel on Climate Change, which has been accused of basing its findings on discredited research and false claims.

"Despite the Endangerment Finding's remarkably broad impact, EPA's Administrator relied on a fundamentally flawed and legally unsupported methodology to reach her decision," the petition stated.

Critics have contended that intercepted e-mails from British scientists suggest that data were distorted to overstate the dangers of global warming.

"The EPA should not blindly accept what the world has begun to second-guess," Abbott said.

The Associated Press, in a recent investigative report, said the 1,073 e-mails stolen from climate scientists showed that they discussed hiding data and stonewalled skeptics, but the e-mails did not support claims that global warming theories are faked.

Dallas-Fort Worth has struggled for years with an ozone pollution problem linked to automobile traffic and industries.