As the litigation of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan rolls on and the deadline for amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs approaches, it’s worth taking a look at one filed by thirteen regular voices of inaction on behalf of the states and industry advocates opposing the plan.
The denier brief claims to provide scientific evidence that climate change isn’t happening. What it really does is expose that climate deniers have run out of sensible objections to climate change. The brief rehashes the debunked arguments of a 2013 brief filed by mostly the same motley crew, in the Utility Air Regulatory Group V EPA case, which established that the EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. If the Court wasn’t persuaded by the argument then, one wonders why it would be now.
InsideClimate News asked experts to weigh in. Michael Mann described the brief as “exhibit A in the case for intellectual bankruptcy of industry-funded climate change denialism.” John Abraham points out the the brief “omits data, makes claims not supported by its data, and does not provide proper links to the data.” EDF did their own evaluation of the “science” in the brief and revealed the extent to which data had been cherry-picked to suit an anti-Clean Power Plan argument.
With friends (of the court) like these, it’s no wonder the industry-beholden opponents of climate action are losing ground.
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