King County Prosecutor Fighting Climate Change

By Andrew at July 1st, 2009.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office detailed in their latest e-mail update that they are “advocates for Clean Air and Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” The civil division of the PAO has been “litigating and advising County agencies on an important, developing climate change situation.”

Recently, in an amicus brief filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the PAO “supported California’s argument that it should be permitted to enact auto emissions standards that are more stringent than the minimum national standards and that doing so is consistent with the Clean Air Act.”

The Environmental Protection Agency had denied states the ability to adopt the more stringent standards, including Washington State. The PAO e-mail goes on to say that “this decision has significant implications in King County because over 50% of this regions greenhouse gas emissions are from automobiles. The effect of the EPA’s decision denying adoption of more stringent emissions standards is that local governments now have fewer tools available to craft the greenhouse gas reduction strategies for their areas.”

The e-mail concluded by stating the “good news” from the Obama Administration, that California’s standards would become the national standards in 2012.

Tags: Climate Change, King County