At least 16 lawsuits were filed before the Feb. 16 deadline to challenge the Obama EPA’s finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations — the so-called “endangerment finding.”
This Greenwire report, brought to us via The New York Times, outlines the suits filed by, among others, the National Mining Association, the Ohio Coal Association and the states of Virginia and Alabama … I wonder what happened to the West Virginia Coal Association and our Gov. Joe Manchin, let alone Massey Energy and its CEO, Don Blankenship… UPDATED: Massey Energy is actually part of a petition challenging the EPA action. Read about it here.
But never fear, West Virginia’s interests are being stood up for by Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Robert C. Byrd. The pair were among a group of coal state senators who signed this letter to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, urging Jackson to suspend any rulemaking on greenhouse gases so that Congress can consider comprehensive energy and climate legislation.
Rockefeller is pretty proud of his involvement in this letter. His office issued a news release (after the close of business) on Friday evening headlined, “Rockefeller Leads Challenge to EPA on Greenhouse Gas Regulations“. Among other things, Rockefeller said:
At a time when so many people are hurting, we need to put the decisions about our energy future in to the hands of the people and their elected representatives-especially on issues impacting clean coal. EPA actions in this area would have enormous implications and these issues need to be handled carefully and appropriately dealt with by the Congress, not in isolation by a federal environmental agency.
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It’s nice to see Sen Byrd is not quite in the “green” pockets as deep as we previously thought.
I think that photo is priceless – correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that our Get-the-EPA-the-heck-outta-our-state governor standing next to Jay, with the Obama sign in front of both? Manchin sure got change!
uh, “Watcher”, could you please list who those with “green pockets” are? Is it a well-funded secret organization?
I only ask because we all know who lines the pockets of West Virginia’s anti-green politicians.
One Citizen. I could start with one , the Rockefeller family fund, thru the Tides Foundation. There now, at least this one’s not a secret anymore
[...] Virginia’s senator previously joined the charge against any effort by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse emissions, [...]