Judge dismisses states' global warming suit

[Eugene]

Judge dismisses states' global warming suit
Fri Sep 16, 2005 1:42 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York federal judge threw out a global warming
lawsuit brought by eight states and the city of New York against five
large utilities, saying that the issue should be decided by Congress or
the President, not the judiciary.

The states filed suit against American Electric Power Co. Inc., Southern
Co., Xcel Energy Inc., Cinergy Corp., and the Tennessee Valley Authority
public power system in July 2004 asking the court to force the utilities
to cut their carbon-dioxide emissions.

Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York dismissed the suit on Thursday, saying that the
case revolved around political questions that it would be inappropriate
for her to resolve.

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More: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2005-09-16T174118Z_01_DIT663673_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-UTILITIES-LAWSUIT-DC.XML

[Vincardog]

1. Scientists believe that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide warm the

earth by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. How is science 'political'? Only in Bu$h World

[Viking12]

2. The politcal questions revolve around how to properly regulate

the utilities. Unfortunately, the judge is probably correct here; current law is pretty vague on the authority to regulate GHGs. Hopefully Congress will act to soon to clarify rules and allow for regulation but I'm not holding my breath.

[rfkrfk]

3. who deceides, what is good enough?

who deceids what the 'numbers' are?

the plaintiffs... well, nobody elected them

the judge... ?

what I don't like here, is the {to my knowledge}
the plaintiff-states are not regulating carbon use in
their own states.

somebody else cut back, we still pollute... that's a hard sell