CO2 vs. the Supremes

Several States have sued the EPA to try to get it to regulate CO2 emissions under the clean air act. Now I firmly believe that CO2 emissions constitute an environmental threat and that they should be regulated, but I don't think this is the right approach.

The CAA 1990 runs to hundreds of pages and lists many pollutants with detailed regulations, but CO2 is not among them. Moreover, most of the pollutants addressed have a rather different mode of creating harm than excess CO2 does, and consequently it can make sense to set "safe" levels for them.

The sensible thing to do is to hold hearings, discuss and debate the science, and pass a new law intended specifically to deal with the question of greenhouse gases and global warming. That's the way it's supposed to work in a democratic republic. The Supreme Court has no expertise in the issue, and is not designed decide the kinds of tradeoffs required here.

Let's regulate CO2 emissions, but let's do it right.

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