Federal Agency Actions Following the Supreme Court's Climate Change Decision: A Chronology

Meltz, Robert

Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service.

关键词: Greenhouse gases;    Air pollution;    Air pollution control;   

RP-ID  :  R41103
RP-ID  :  R41103_2010Dec23

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court rendered one of its most important environmental decisions of all time. In Massachusetts v. EPA, the Court held that greenhouse gases (GHGs), widely viewed as contributing to climate change, constitute "air pollutants" as that phrase is used in the Clean Air Act (CAA). As a result, said the Court, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had improperly denied a petition seeking CAA regulation of GHGs from new motor vehicles by saying the agency lacked authority over such emissions. This report presents a chronology of major federal agency actions, mainly by EPA, in the wake of Massachusetts v. EPA.