Appeals Court Rules EPA Shall Regulate Harmful Emissions

Two noteworthy things about last week's ruling:

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declared that the agency was “unambiguously correct” that the Clean Air Act requires the federal government to impose limits once it has determined that emissions are causing harm. 

The judges unanimously dismissed arguments from industry that the science of global warming was not well supported and that the agency had based its judgment on unreliable studies. “This is how science works,” they wrote. “The E.P.A. is not required to reprove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question.”

And:

The panel’s opinion was unsigned. The chief judge, David B. Sentelle, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan; he was joined by two Clinton appointees, David S. Tatel and Judith W. Rogers.