EPA emissions plan faces challenge

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced late Friday that it would challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, setting the stage for a protracted legal battle with the Obama administration over global warming.

The chamber said it was filing a petition with the agency challenging the EPA’s process in determining that greenhouse gases endanger human health and are thus subject to Clean Air Act regulation. The challenge is likely to lead to a court battle.

Chamber officials said they support action in Congress and international treaty negotiations to reduce greenhouse gases. But they said the EPA overreached in acting on its own and produced a flawed finding that will lead to other poorly conceived regulations further downstream.

An EPA spokesperson said that, while the agency had not seen the chamber’s petition, “EPA issued its endangerment finding as a result of a 2007 Supreme Court decision and after a thorough and transparent review of the soundest science available.”

“That science overwhelmingly indicates that climate change is a real and growing threat,” said Adora Andy, the EPA press secretary.