Attorneys General Base EPA Suit Over Carbon Dioxide Regulation On “Disowned” Report

Washington, D.C., February 20, 2003—As seven attorneys general reportedly prepare a lawsuit to coerce EPA to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, the Competitive Enterprise Institute cited the Federal Data Quality Act in requesting a prohibition on continued dissemination of the lawsuit’s basis, the “National Assessment on Climate Change.”  The Assessment was actually disavowed in order to resolve a lawsuit filed by CEI, a U.S. Senator, and two Representatives.

The attorneys general today again cited the disgraced National Assessment as support for their lawsuit against EPA.  In October 2000, on the eve of the incomplete and unlawful report’s politicized issuance, several lawmakers and public interest groups including CEI filed a lawsuit against the White House, which ultimately withdrew it, asserting it did “not [reflect] policy positions or official statements of the U.S. government.”  A letter from the Office of Science and Technology Policy explaining the Administration’s position is available here.

“The National Assessment was hurriedly slapped together in an incomplete and inaccurate form,” said Christopher C. Horner, a senior fellow at CEI and counsel to the Cooler Heads Coalition.  “The Bush Administration disavowed the report in return for CEI, Senator Inhofe, and the other plaintiffs withdrawing our lawsuit, yet continues to distribute it in flagrant violation of our agreement.” 

This morning Mr. Horner filed a “Data Quality Act” petition with the White House Science Office, available here, to prohibit further dissemination of the National Assessment.

 

Global Warming Policy & Legal Expert Available for Interviews

Christopher C. Horner

Senior Fellow, CEI

Counsel, Cooler Heads Coalition

202.262.4458

[email protected]

Recently seen on: MSNBC Live, At Large with Geraldo Rivera (Fox News Channel), and Market Wrap (CNBC).

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.