Backdoor Policy on Climate Change

by Brad Peck

The National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC),the public policy law firm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, today challenged a decision by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior that would single out all greenhouse gas activities in Alaska to be regulated under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), threatening economic development and jobs in the State. The Secretary already exempted all other states from these regulations under the ESA in May. Robin Conrad, Executive Vice President of NCLC, had this to say:

Environmental activists are trying to use the Endangered Species Act as a back door to set national climate policy – and they’re starting with Alaska. Climate change is a global issue and requires a global solution. Singling out Alaska to impose burdensome and onerous regulation is bad policy and violates the law. It is arbitrary and capricious for the Secretary to single out Alaska for regulation, given the Secretary’s own scientific judgment that no causal link can be established between a particular emissions source and any harm to Arctic ice. The only sensible solution is to extend the 4(d) ruling to exempt all 50 states, including Alaska, from regulations under the ESA.  If this goes unchallenged, Alaskans’ jobs and economic growth are on the line.

See NCLC's full statement here.  Bjorn Lomborg, of Copenhagen Consensus fame, gave a little more insight on the polar bear at a Chamber event in June, see Bruce Josten's report.