Emissions Suit Attracts Researchers

A veritable who's who of climate scientists has weighed in on an important question before the Supreme Court: whether the U.S. government should regulate carbon emissions from new cars. Last month, a group of climate scientists told the Supreme Court that a 2003 decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to regulate greenhouse gases from cars was based on a misreading of the scientific literature. Yesterday, eight climatologists took EPA's side in the case, writing that there is insufficient evidence that carbon dioxide emissions will endanger public health or welfare.

The case, Massachusetts v. EPA, was brought by 12 states and nonprofit organizations who argue that EPA should add greenhouse gases to the list of substances whose impacts on the atmosphere are monitored. The Clean Air Act, first passed in 1970, requires the government to regulate substances that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.