Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

U.S. Supreme Court to hear state climate change case

  • by Deirdre Shesgreen
  • April 18, 2011
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

WASHINGTON–The smoldering debate over climate change will move from Congress to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, when the justices take up a high-profile Connecticut case to determine whether states have the power to curb polluting greenhouse gases.

Democrat Richard Blumenthal brought the suit, along with a handful of other state attorneys general, in a 2004 legal quest to force coal-burning power plants to cut their carbon dioxide emissions. The long-time Connecticut Attorney General is now in U.S. Senate, a player in the parallel political fight over this contentious environmental question.

At issue in the Supreme Court case, American Electric Power Co. (AEP) v. Connecticut, is whether states can use public nuisance laws to force coal-burning power plants to reduce their emissions. It pits environmental and health risks against economic and energy concerns, at a time when these same issues are also brewing in the political arena.

Connecticut and the other parties, including New York, California, and Vermont, argue that AEP and four other companies named in the suit are significantly contributing to global warming through emissions from their fossil-fuel burning power plants. That, in turn, is threatening the public health and welfare of residents in Connecticut and other states, they argue.

“We’re seeing evidence of the impact of climate change now,” said Matt Levine, an assistant attorney general in Connecticut and a lawyer in the office’s environment department. If it’s allowed to continue unabated, he said, the temperature of Long Island Sound will increase and sea levels will rise, adversely impacting local fisheries and estuaries. In addition, New England’s hardwood forests will not be able to thrive in hotter temperatures, cutting short Connecticut’s fall season and dealing a blow to tourism.

“There’s a lot at stake for Connecticut,” said Levine, who will be in the courtroom on Tuesday but not presenting the state’s case. (New York’s solicitor general will be the lead attorney arguing on behalf of the state coalition.)

Other states similarly argue that power-plant emissions have taken a toll, causing increased smog and heat-related deaths in Los Angeles and reducing crop and livestock yields in Iowa. The power companies–the nation’s five biggest emitters of carbon dioxide–are “contributing to and exacerbating these harms by emitting 650 million tons of carbon dioxide each year-10 percent of the entire country’s annual emissions,” the states write in their Supreme Court brief.

The Ohio-based AEP and four other defendants, including Southern Co. and Cinergy Corp., say the state attorneys general are trying to use a simplistic legal tool to accomplish a complex political goal. It won’t cure climate change, they say, but it will cause a spike in energy prices, among other “societal burdens.”

The companies argue that no single source of carbon dioxide emissions can be traceable to global climate change. The states’ lawsuit is unprecedented, they argue, and would unleash a torrent of other legal claims against small and big energy producers alike.

“If accepted, the legal theories underlying these claims will have extraordinary ramifications for courts and society alike,” AEP and the other companies argue in their Supreme Court brief.

They note that carbon dioxide is only one of several greenhouse gases, and that more than 80 percent of emissions come from overseas polluters, in China and India, for example. Individually, each company named in the suit “was allegedly responsible in 2004 for less than one percent of annual worldwide… carbon dioxide emissions, which have been accumulating in the atmosphere for centuries,” the companies’ brief states.

The source of greenhouse gas emissions “are innumerable and ever-expanding,” they argue, while “the alleged effects of climate change are diffuse and worldwide.” There is no nexus “between individual emissions and particular alleged effects of climate change.”

They argue that Connecticut and other states aren’t suing to “obtain meaningful redress” for a public health or environmental harm. “They are suing because, in their view, Congress and EPA are not doing enough to address global warming.”

To be sure, when Blumenthal and other state attorneys general first filed the lawsuit in 2004, during the Bush Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency had determined that it did not have the authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions under the federal Clean Air Act.

Then in 2007, in Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles were a form of air pollution and that the EPA had the authority to regulate them. In 2009, the Obama Administration said it would start drafting greenhouse-gas regulations, as Congress stalemated over a climate-change bill.

But that is a long, bureaucratic process and no federal greenhouse-gas curbs are expected to be put in place before 2012. In the meantime, Republicans have made repeated efforts to block any EPA action. Earlier this month, for example, Blumenthal and other Senate Democrats defeated, by a 50-50 vote, a Republican-backed bill to bar the EPA from taking any action on climate change

Environmental advocates say the outcome of the political battle is far from certain, making state efforts key to addressing climate change. But in a twist, the Obama Administration has sided with AEP and the other power companies, saying the matter is better left to the EPA.

“We would welcome the EPA enacting regulations that regulate CO2 emissions from power plants,” Levine said. If that happened, he noted, “this case would essentially be unnecessary.”  But until then, he said, it’s the best available option “to protect the citizens of our states.”

Connecticut and the other states are seeking a 3 percent cut in carbon emissions from the five companies for the next ten years. In an initial ruling, a lower court sided with the power companies, determining that the states’ suit involved complex policy questions that should be handled by the legislative and executive branches.

But the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned that ruling, concluding that the states’ claims do not turn on political questions and can be sorted out based on settled principles of public nuisance law.

Where the Supreme Court will come down on this issue is unclear. The 2007 case was decided in a 5-to-4 ruling. The philosophical make up of the court has remained the same, but two new justices have joined. And one of those-Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor-has recused herself because she served on the 2nd Circuit when it heard the case.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deirdre Shesgreen

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Health issues carried weight on the campaign trail.
by Victoria Knight | Kaiser Health News

Even with the Democrats’ newfound Senate majority, differences in health policy between the party’s moderate and progressive wings will persist.

Trump’s pardons included health care execs behind massive fraud
by Fred Schulte | Kaiser Health News

At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers. “These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, […]

‘It’s a nightmare:’ A growing number of seniors are unable to book vaccine appointments as problems mount
by Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso

The state acknowledged Friday in an email to local health workers that some residents are waiting days for a callback.

Panel recommends small, inflationary pay hike for state officials
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Connecticut's part-time legislature hasn't received a pay hike since 2001. The annual base-pay for senators and representatives is $28,000.

Police task force seeks wider applicant pool for watchdog role
by Kelan Lyons

The task force sent four recommendations — and two that didn't get unanimous approval— to lawmakers for the 2021 session.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Miguel Cardona, who are you?
by Ann Policelli Cronin

When I ask Connecticut teachers about Miguel Cardona, those who know him or have worked with him say that he is really nice guy who knows what the challenges in our classrooms are, knows how to help teachers to improve their teaching, and respects public schools. All good. But what is his vision for teaching and learning that he will bring to the U.S. Department of Education?

Opinion Connecticut needs a strong two-party system, this Democrat says
by Edward Marcus

J.R. Romano’s recent resignation as the state’s Republican Party chair has brought into focus the need for a viable opposition party in Connecticut. It is not healthy politics when everything is totally controlled by one party:  the legislature, the governorship, and most of the major municipalities in our state.

Opinion Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Opinion Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO