Massachusetts dealt blow in attempt to force EPA to regulate tailpipe emissions

Beth Daley, Globe Staff

In April, on the first anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases are pollutants, Massachusetts and 17 other states filed an unusual legal petition in federal court to pressure the US Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the gases from cars and trucks.

Today, a federal court rejected the petition.

no regulating these tailpipes

"We are obviously disappointed by today's ruling,'' said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. "The Bush Administration has for several months shamelessly made it clear that it will not take any regulatory action toward addressing global climate change but that it will instead simply 'run out the clock.' Unfortunately, today's ruling effectively allows this strategy to stand."

The Supreme Court justices last year ordered the EPA to formally declare whether carbon dioxide and other global warming gases from motor vehices could harm human health, and if so, to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. But the court did not set a deadline for the agency to make its determination, though EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson had set his own timeline for release by the end of 2007. That has still not happened.

Massachusetts and other states that petitioned the D.C. Circuit charged that the federal agency was dragging its feet in approving a document that would declare the emissions harmful.

"We take heart in the fact that, through bringing Massachusetts v. EPA, we have established that existing law provides EPA both the authority and responsibility to tackle the problem and draft documents leaked from EPA this month demonstrate that the Clean Air Act provides an effective tool for doing so,'' Coakley said. "We look forward to continuing our work to protect the public health and welfare.”