“Texas is aggressively seeking its future in alternative energy through incentives and innovation, not mandates and overreaching regulation,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry in a statement. “The EPA’s misguided plan paints a big target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy produces and the hundreds of thousands of Texans they employ.”
The challenge comes as the EPA encouraged new regulations to prevent greenhouse gas emissions.
“The lawsuit filed by Governor Perry is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to ignore the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Massachusetts,” said Jim Marston, an advocate for the environment. “Their action invokes memories of a sad time in Texas history from the ‘50s, when Texas politicians sought to nullify decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only is it legally unsound, it puts Texas on the side of the 1950s economy, against the clean energy economy of the future.”
The EPA is beginning to regulate carbon emissions if Congress does not act soon to pass a cap and trade bill providing help to companies through pollution permits.
In the meantime, Republicans are complaining the EPA’s actions are cutting jobs and leading to economic uncertainty.
“Governor Perry should win an Olympic medal for taking the environment downhill,” said Luke Metzger, an advocate for the environment, reported by Reuters. “Global warming is the greatest environmental threat facing Texas and the planet and Governor Perry’s obstructionism puts the state at great risk.”
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