http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/08/31/MNGKTKSJRU1.DTL&type=politicsSupreme Court case challenges Bush stance on global warming
California and 11 other states are suing EPA to force curbs on greenhouse gases
Opening briefs are due before the U.S. Supreme Court today in a case challenging the Bush administration's reluctance to issue regulations to control global warming.
California and 11 other states have joined with environmental groups in a legal attack they hope will compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take action to curb the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere.
The EPA maintains it has no authority under the Clean Air Act to do so, and even if it had the ability, regulations are inappropriate. It favors, instead, national and international "voluntary partnerships" over mandatory rules covering domestic industries.
Critics maintain the White House must be forced to act without delay to reverse or at least slow down the warming trend.