DECEMBER 5, 2012
Group to sue EPA to force backdoor Cap-and-Trade, raise fuel prices
WASHINGTON, DC – Apparently, gas isn't expensive enough yet – at least for one environmental interest group that is now suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force the creation of Cap-and-Trade. The Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law last week told EPA to expect the lawsuit.
"They want to make cheap energy expensive, so that expensive energy will seem cheap," said Ryan Houck, executive director of Free Market America.
"We've seen this play before, and inventing fictitious markets that traffic imaginary products is bad enough. But asking the EPA to assume quasi-legislative powers so that it can unilaterally enact Cap-in-Trade is a deeply troubling step, even for radical environmentalists. Proponents of this lawsuit absurdly cite Hurricane Sandy as a reason for Cap-and-Trade.
But what Hurricane Sandy truly illustrates is the human hardship that results from communities losing power and fuel. This measure aims to render Sandy's fuel shortages and soaring energy prices commonplace."
Politico posted its story on this backdoor Cap-and-Trade lawsuit late last week. It can read here.
Bill Wilson, president of Americans for Limited Government expressed concern that, "This lawsuit is nothing more than a pretext for the EPA to continue expanding their power through ginned up judicial actions."
The practice of using litigation to enact policy has become commonplace on environmental matters.
Here's how it works: Environmental interests sue the EPA to compel a particular policy outcome (such as "Cap-and-Trade").
Sympathetic bureaucrats (who often have ties to the litigants) gleefully settle the suit, and agree to enact new policies without bothering with nasty details like "Congress." For more information (and for examples), click here.
Free Market America is a project of Americans for Limited Government that produced the 2.6 million-hit viral video, "If I wanted America to Fail," which debuted on Earth Day earlier this year.
