EPA sued over failure to introduce oil refinery carbon rules

A group of US states yesterday commenced legal proceedings against the Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to regulate carbon emissions from oil refineries, opening up another front in their running battle with the agency over its failure to introduce tighter carbon legislation.

In a law suit filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by the State of New York and backed by 11 other states, the group said that the EPA had violated the Clean Air Act by failing to include standards to control greenhouse gas emissions from new or updated equipment.

New York's attorney general Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement that the EPA's refusal to control pollution from oil refineries was "the latest example of the Bush administration's do-nothing policy on global warming".

He added that, "Oil refineries contribute substantially to global warming, posing grave threats to New York's environment, health, and economy. As long as the Bush EPA continues its blatant violation of the Clean Air Act and its shameful refusal to control global warming pollution, I will continue to fight them aggressively on all fronts".

According to the suit, oil refineries account for three per cent of US energy consumption and almost 15 per cent of all carbon emissions from industrial processes nationwide, as well as large quantities of methane.

The suit is the latest in a series of legal moves from state governments designed to force the EPA to introduce far tighter legislation governing carbon emissions.

In a decision last year, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases should be considered an air pollutant, and as such they can be regulated by the EPA under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA had argued against such a move, insisting new legislation was required to develop a clearer framework for managing carbon emissions, and has repeatedly delayed its official response to the Supreme Court ruling.

However, these delays have prompted a raft of court cases from States keen to see carbon rules introduced, with the latest suit regarding oil refineries joining similar cases attempting to force the EPA to introduce tighter rules regarding air quality and emissions from vehicles.

Yesterday, the EPA was continuing to stick to its guns, suggesting that the latest case was a waste of tax payers money that would be better spent on developing new carbon legislation at a Congressional level.