Connecticut’s attorney general and top energy official praised a federal appeal court ruling allowing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
George Jepsen, Connecticut, attorney general, and Dan Esty, commissioner of the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, said the decision will help protect public health and taper one of the most important energy and environmental issues of the 21st century.
Connecticut was one of 18 states that intervened in support of the EPA against the challenge of its right to regulate greenhouse gases, which was challenged by several other states.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld EPA’s findings that greenhouse gases endanger public health, allowing the agency to reduce emissions from motor vehicles, manufacturing facilities and power plants.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled greenhouse gases are a pollutant and could be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
