Good News For Breathers

EPA Wins Big In Federal Court

Federal appeals court give EPA big climate win. The Hill: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld EPA’s 'endangerment finding' that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health and welfare — a finding that provides the underpinning for regulation of emissions from tailpipes, smokestacks and other sources. The court left intact EPA’s rules on carbon emissions from automobiles, and the 'tailoring rule' that shields smaller stationary sources from greenhouse gas permitting that the EPA is using to target emissions from big sources like power plants ... The decision is a defeat for a suite of industry groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Mining Association, the National Association of Manufacturers and others that challenged various aspects of EPA’s climate rules."

Court speaks slowly to climate science deniers. McClatchy quotes from opinion: "It makes no difference that much of the scientific evidence in large part consisted of ‘syntheses’ of individual studies and research ... Even individual studies and research papers often synthesize past work in an area and then build upon it. This is how science works. EPA is not required to re-prove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question.”