Obama's Climate Track Record Continues to be Mostly Hot Air

President Obama stood by and watched as clean energy & climate legislation died in the Senate. His administration claims EPA regulation of global warming pollution is coming, but a new court case has conservationists questioning President Obama's commitment once again:

Administration officials said the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory moves to restrain carbon dioxide emissions made the lawsuit unnecessary, and the acting solicitor general asked the Supreme Court to return the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

But environmentalists said that the administration had talked about - but not imposed - limits on emissions from existing power plants.

Moreover, environmental groups said, the government's brief went beyond that, employing arguments that threatened to undercut a basis for legal action that have been used for a century, since Georgia sued over damage a Tennessee copper smelter was inflicting on Georgia's forests.

"We're very angry and very disappointed that they would take this tack," said David Doniger, policy director of the climate center at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

At a time when the effects of global warming continue to accelerate, it's mystifying the Obama administration wouldn't take every possible route to cut carbon pollution. And while the Obama administration says it would veto attacks on the Clean Air Act, we have yet to hear that promise from President Obama himself.