U.S. Chamber Challenges Wisdom of Regulating Climate Change Under Clean Air Act

Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber’s National Chamber Litigation Center, has issued the following statement on the Chamber’s lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) denial of the Chamber’s petition to reconsider triggering the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions:

“The U.S. Chamber, policymakers, numerous trade groups, state governments, and businesses throughout the country have collectively raised strong concerns about the significant negative impact the EPA’s endangerment finding will have on jobs and local economies.

“Today the Chamber filed a petition for judicial review to challenge the legality of the EPA’s refusal to reconsider its endangerment finding. The Chamber’s lawsuit challenges the wisdom of regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, which simply was never intended to regulate something as complex as global climate change. The Chamber’s lawsuit does not address the science of climate change.

“The EPA itself has admitted that regulating climate change under the Clean Air Act would create an ‘absurd’ result. Unfortunately, the agency has refused to reconsider its flawed decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

“The Chamber supports efforts to address climate change that allow our economy to grow, increase the nation’s energy security, and improve our environment. We continue to call on Congress to work through the legislative process, rather than having the EPA misapply environmental statutes like the Clean Air Act, which was not created to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.”

NCLC is the public policy law firm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that advocates fair treatment of business in the courts and before regulatory agencies.