On EPA’s Failure to Reconsider Endangerment Finding

by Robin Conrad

Today the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) denied the U.S. 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 EPA’s endangerment finding will have on jobs and local economies.

We are deeply disappointed with the EPA’s failure to reconsider its flawed decision to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. We intend to appeal the ruling.

The Chamber’s petition challenged the wisdom of regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, which simply was never intended to regulate something as complex as the problem of climate change. Our petition never claimed that "climate science cannot be trusted," as the EPA misleadingly claims in its release. In fact, the Chamber’s petition for reconsideration was based on the EPA’s own admission that regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act would result in an "absurd" overregulation of the entire economy.

The Chamber strongly supports efforts to address climate change, and we continue to call for Congress to work through the legislative process, rather than having EPA misapply environmental statues like the Clean Air Act which was not created to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Robin Conrad is the executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber’s National Chamber Litigation Center