Governor Rick Perry To Sue the EPA

Governor Rick Perry of Texas announced during a press conference on Tuesday that he will sue the United States Environmental Protection Agency on “behalf” of his state in order to stop the agency’s regulation of global warming pollution. Perry says that his intention is to, “defend Texas’ environmental successes against federal overreach. “   He went on to criticize President Obama’s approach to environmental policy. He said the Obama Administration is “…using sweeping mandates and draconian punishments to force a square peg of their vision into the round hole of reality “

The “meat” of Perry’s argument is based upon the “ClimateGate” emails leaked to the public months ago. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott charges that the emails are “tainted” evidence used by the EPA to determine in December that heat trapping gasses are a health threat that can be regulated by the United States government and the agency specifically.

Perry and other Texas officials submitted a “Petition for Review” to the EPA. In the overview section of the report the petition questions the conclusions of the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body considered generally to be a reliable and important source of information regarding climate change.  The petitions states in part:

“Previously private email exchanges among top IPCC climatologists reveal an entrenched group of activists focused less in reaching an objective scientific conclusion than on achieving their desired outcome. These scientists worked to prevent contravening studies from being published, colluded to hide research flaws, and collaborated to obstruct the public’s legal right to public information under open records laws.”