12 states back challenge of EPA, Cuccinelli says

12 states back challenge of EPA, Cuccinelli says

Mar 19 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rex Springston Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Twelve states have filed motions to join appeals previously filed by Virginia, Texas and Alabama of an Environmental Protection Agency decision on climate change, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said today.

"While we made the decision to intervene based on what was in the best interests of Virginia and her citizens, it is gratifying to have the support of so many other states," said Cuccinelli.

The challenges are before a federal appeals court in Washington.

Meanwhile, the Charlottesville-based Southern Environmental Law Center asked the court Thursday to allow it to intervene in the case. That would allow the group to argue on behalf of the EPA.

"It's disturbing that our state attorney general chooses to challenge the mountain of evidence" that climate change threatens the public, said Morgan Butler, a senior attorney with the law center.

The center is representing Wetlands Watch, a Norfolk-based environmental group.

Oral arguments in the case could be held this winter, a spokeswoman for the law center said.

The 12 states that have filed motions to join Virginia in the case are Nebraska, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah, according to Cuccinelli's office.

They are challenging an EPA decision in December that greenhouse gases, which scientists say contribute to global warming, endanger the public.