SUPREME COURT TO TAKE ON GLOBAL WARMING CASE… From the AP:
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether the Bush administration must regulate carbon dioxide to combat global warming, setting up what could be one of the court’s most important decisions on the environment.
The decision means the court will address whether the administration’s decision to rely on voluntary measures to combat climate change are legal under federal clean air laws.
“This is the whole ball of wax. This will determine whether the Environmental Protection Agency is to regulate greenhouse gases from cars and whether EPA can regulate carbon dioxide from power plants,” said David Bookbinder, an attorney for the Sierra Club.
Bookbinder said if the court upholds the administration’s argument it also could jeopardize plans by California and 10 other states, including most of the Northeast, to require reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.
UPDATE: Also today, business as usual in Washington was thrown a wrench by severe weather patterns — torrential rains that flooded major roads; caused a mudslide near the Capitol Beltway; shut down several Metro stations; closed the downtown HQs of the Departments of Justice, Commerce, and the IRS; and forced many Federal workers to take the day off.
