The Obama administration angered environmental groups last week, siding with utility companies in a Supreme court case on greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2004, eight state governments and the city of New York sued the Tennessee Valley Authority and five other utilities for burning fossil fuels, stating that the emissions pose a public nuisance.
The lawsuit asks the court to require the utilities to reduce emissions by a set amount each year.
Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently working to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and thus the courts should not get involved.
However, the EPA is also being sued by industry groups who want to stop those regulations. And the regulations will only apply to new or rebuilt power plants. So, environmentalists say the lawsuit is still an important tool in forcing utilities to respond to the threat of climate change.
Furthermore, they say the administration’s argument undermines a basis for legal action that has been used for decades.
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