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December 20, 2007
EAI Urges Bush Administration Not to Issue Carbon Dioxide Emission Standards for New Vehicles
The Ethan Allen Institute has joined with nineteen other organizations to urge the Bush Administration not to issue EPA carbon dioxide emission standards for new vehicles.
The December 17 letter, initiated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argues that “such EPA action will likely have grave consequences that extend far beyond motor vehicles. The end result may well be an unimaginably broad and devastating energy-suppression program, with massive job losses and skyrocketing increases in consumer prices.”
The letter is another round in the conflict initiated by environmental organizations – plus fourteen states including Vermont – in the case of Massachusetts v. EPA, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 2, 2007.
In that case, a five-member majority of the Court directed EPA to either issue carbon dioxide emission regulations for new vehicles, or explain why such an action was impractical or unwise. The Court’s opinion held that because of its effect as a “greenhouse gas”, carbon dioxide is a major cause of global warming, and if left unchecked by government regulations, global warming could at some future time cause rising sea levels and longer summers, etc. that could endanger human “health and welfare.”
The Court’s majority reached this conclusion in spite of the fact that at no time since enactment of the Clean Air Act in 1970 has Congress ever declared carbon dioxide to be a covered “pollutant”, and on at least two occasions has explicitly rejected amendments to require such a declaration.
The letter points out that an EPA finding that carbon dioxide is a “pollutant” that must be regulated will trigger enforcement of severe regulatory mandates, such as the Prevention of Significant Deterioration rules and National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
“The construction delays, economic uncertainty, paperwork burdens, and engineering expenses this could impose on hundreds of thousands of small establishments for no measurable environmental benefit boggles the mind, “the letter stated. “It would give anti-growth litigation groups a bottomless well of excuses for demanding ever more onerous restrictions on energy production and use.”
EAI President John McClaughry said “it is clear that the enviro groups, aided and abetted by Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrel, are using the excuse of ‘global warming’ to gain full control of our energy-dependent economy. It would be a tragedy if this administration caved in and accommodated them.”
The Ethan Allen Institute is Vermont's independent free-market public policy organization.
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