DALLAS - Governor Rick Perry and other top Texas officials said yesterday they would legally challenge the federal government’s finding that greenhouse gases are dangerous to people, saying the ruling was based on flawed science.
The Environmental Protection Agency in December issued an “endangerment’’ finding about carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, setting the stage for future rules.
Officials in Texas - which leads the nation in greenhouse gas emissions - said they have asked a federal appeals court to review the endangerment finding. The state also asked the EPA to reconsider it. EPA officials in Washington did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
“The EPA’s misguided plan paints a big target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy producers and the hundreds of thousands of Texans they employ,’’ Perry said. “This legal action is being taken to protect the Texas economy and the jobs that go with it.’’
The announcement was met with swift criticism from environmental activists who say Perry’s decisions are based on his ties to the industry groups that support him. Texas has more oil refineries, chemical plants, and coal-fired power plants than any other state. “Not only is it legally unsound, it puts Texas on the side of the 1950s economy, against the clean energy economy of the future,’’ said Jim Marston of the Environmental Defense Fund.
