Big Day for the Environment

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the environment today. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ordered EPA to consider regulation of mobile sources for greenhouse gas emissions. Massachussets and several other states and cities filed the case against the EPA. Part of the Supreme Court ruling stated, "Given EPA's failure to dispute the existence of a causal connection between man-made greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, its refusal to regulate such emissions, at a minimum, “contributes to Massachusetts’ injuries." It also stated, "The harms associated with climate change are serious and well recognized. The Government’s own objective assessment of the relevant science and a strong consensus among qualified experts indicate that global warming threatens, inter alia, a precipitate rise in sea levels, severe and irreversible changes to natural ecosystems, a significant reduction in winter snowpack with direct and important economic consequences, and increases in the spread of disease and the ferocity of weather events."