High Hope From High Court
It isn’t often that the U.S. Supreme Court gets involved deeply in matters dealing with environmental pollution. But several weeks ago, it ruled that the federal government could regulate greenhouse gases.
This historic decision prompted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to proclaim that he will sue the Environmental Protection Agency to give him the power to regulate automobile emissions in his state.
The court decision and Schwarzenegger’s speedy follow-up come none too soon. The world’s foremost environmental scientists have leaked a report that warns that what governments do about auto emissions in the next 20 to 30 years will determine whether the world can avoid the worst consequences of global pollution.
Whether or not speedy action takes place rests in good measure in the hands of Stephen Johnson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He has, so far, not acted on Schwarzenegger’s request that was initiated in 2005. At that time, the EPA denied the request on the grounds that it lacked the authority to comply with the request.
But, the decision of the Supreme Court has cleared the way for action. In addition to California, there are 11 other states that have been awaiting clearance.
Once the ball gets rolling we, our children and grandchildren will be breathing cleaner air.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
