TribBlog: AG's Latest Environmental Lawsuits

Texas has fired off another volley of legal challenges against federal environmental regulators.

This morning, the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced that it has filed four new motions against the Environmental Protection Agency's rules on regulating greenhouse gases.

The targets this time: the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare; a rule that tightens emission standards for cars and trucks (the "light-duty vehicle rule"); a regulation that, according to the AG, would also require regulation of refineries and other large sources (called "prevention of significant deterioration"); and a rule (the "tailoring rule") that would focus greenhouse gas regulation on large emitters and exempt small ones. The EPA has said that its tailoring rule is intended to implement greenhouse gas regulations sensibly, by sparing mom-and-pop stores, but some businesses — and now Texas — are challenging the legality of the rule as part of a broader strategy to derail the regulations.

As with previous challenges to the EPA, the main concern cited by the AG's office is the economic welfare of Texans, at a time when many people are struggling.

"The state is seeking to prevent the EPA’s new rules — and the economic harm that will result from those regulations — from being imposed on Texas employers, workers and enforcement agencies," the release states.