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Home Front: Politix
Federal Judge OKs Global Warming Lawsuit
2005-08-25
Guess who nominated Judge Jeffrey White? You betcha, Bubba! He was part of a deal to get W's nominees a hearing and allowed in by the Rep's
SAN FRANCISCO: A federal judge here said environmental groups and four U.S. cities can sue federal development agencies on allegations the overseas projects they financially back contribute to global warming. The decision Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White is the first to say that groups alleging global warming have a right to sue. "This is the first decision in the country to say that climate change causes sufficient injury to give a plaintiff standing, to open the courthouse door," said Ronald Shems, a Vermont attorney representing Friends of the Earth.
Usually you have to prove injury occurred to get a verdict, but lately that seems optional ...
That group, in addition to Greenpeace and the cities of Boulder, Colo., Santa Monica, Oakland and Arcata, Calif., sued Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Those government agencies provide loans and insure billions of dollars of U.S. investors' money for development projects overseas. Many of the projects are power plants that emit greenhouses gases that the groups allege cause global warming.
So developing countries can't have power plants 'cause they're ucky, which means they have no power, which means they stay destitute, which means the liberal citizens of Boulder, Santa Monica, Arcata and Oakland will blame George Bush for global poverty. Got it.
The coalition argues that the National Environmental Policy Act, the law requiring environmental assessments of proposed development projects in the United States, should apply to the U.S.-backed projects overseas. The U.S. law should apply, they say, because those developments are contributing to the degradation of the U.S. environment via global warming.

The two government agencies claimed that U.S. environmental regulations do not apply to overseas projects, and that the courts have no right to intervene in those agencies' affairs.
Congress could have said this if it wanted to, but it didn't, which means a judge will have to 'find' it in there somehow. Seems like they found the judge to do just that.
Still, the judge's ruling was narrow. White did not rule whether those agencies must perform environmental assessments of projects they help fund, but simply said the groups have a right to sue. If White's decision stands, the issue of whether U.S. environmental rules apply to the projects backed by the agencies likely will be litigated, Shems said.

Shems noted that, even if he ultimately wins the case, that doesn't mean a given project would be blocked even if an environmental analysis is performed and highlights severe environmental damage it would cause. "The first step in getting a handle on climate change is to find out what the sources are and get an inventory," he said.

The suit claims 8 percent of the world's greenhouse gases come from projects supported by the two agencies.
You've come this far, a little more BS can't hurt your chances ...
Linda Formella, a spokeswoman with Export-Import Bank, said the agency, which supported nearly $18 billion in exports last year, does not comment on pending litigation. The Overseas Private Investment Corp. did not immediately return calls seeking comment. The case is Friends of the Earth v. Watson, 02-4106.
This will be overturned. Time to pressure Specter to support GOP judges as much as he does Dems
Posted by:Frank G

#11  The suit claims 8 percent of the world's greenhouse gases come from projects supported by the two agencies.

ROTFLMAO - I wonder if these idiots have ever called up any truly SCIENTIFIC information on greenhouse gasses. Note that they don't say 8% of "carbon dioxide", but "8% of greenhouse gasses". Water vapor makes up 95% of ALL greenhouse gasses, with carbon dioxide running about 4.3%. The sun puts more water vapor in the atmosphere every day than all the burning of coal, gas, wood, or any other flamable substance does in a year. The amount of CO2 pushed into the atmosphere by a single volcano erupting for three weeks is greater than all the automobiles in the world can muster in a year or more. Carbon Dioxide emissions and global warming are just boogeymen the Left tries to use to gain power over the rest of us.

It's going to be quite a shock to these bully-boys if the sun begins to cool again, as it seems to be doing. We just went through a "solar maximum" - a period of maximum solar output and minimum sunspot activity. As the solar output decreases, and sunspot activity increases, watch temperatures cool.

Maybe we can stake Al Gore to the top of Pikes Peak as a sacrifice to the "gods of global warming". Since the Left is using this for all it's worth, why can't the rest of us?
Posted by: Old Patriot   2005-08-25 23:47  

#10  sh*t! we must already have global warming in San Diego!


sorry...
Posted by: Frank G   2005-08-25 21:59  

#9  Good things about global warming (if it were true instead of a figment of the looney lefts' imagination):
1. Don't have to move to Florida to get warm.
2. Don't have to shovel snow.
3. Don't need snow tires or snow blowers.
4. Heart attacks associated with snow shoveling will be elimated.
5. Can go swimming all the time.
6. Palm trees can be grown in the back yard.
7. Cars will not get cancer from salt on the highways.
8. Research dollars can be directed towards something useful.
Posted by: John Q. Citizen   2005-08-25 21:41  

#8  told ya, AP!
Posted by: Frank G   2005-08-25 12:34  

#7  AP, reminds me of what we were talking about last night.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2005-08-25 12:28  

#6  This is beginning to look like the Michael Crichton novel State of Fear. Maybe the judge should read the forest of footnotes on Global Warming™ in the book first before he goes off half cocked. Or not. "Don't confuse me with the facts."
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-08-25 11:46  

#5  So the Global Average Temperature now comes within the purview of the SF District Court?

Fascinating. And hard to explain to the oversight committee, I bet.
Posted by: mojo   2005-08-25 11:29  

#4  Actually, this is an opporunity for the Democrats to salvage their position. A quick notice of impeachment to the judge for exceeding this authority will reestablish the balance of powers of the branches of government and lessen the consequences of a judiciary dominated by appointees of the Republicans. To do nothing will forfeit the last branch of government while that branch still has significant power to dictate to society. Cripple it now, or suffer exile from all the centers of power.
Posted by: Elmemble Ulaitch5567   2005-08-25 10:26  

#3  It just struck me reading this that the loony left, environmentalists and the State Dept. bureaucrats all worship at the alter of stabilty.

Can't off the tyrants cause that would cause instability, can't run a power plant cause that would cause climate instability (change).

What's that word for those who are afraid of change, afraid of new things?
Posted by: AlanC   2005-08-25 09:23  

#2  This could get really interesting if the Feds bring in high-powered scientists to demonstrate that either 1) global warming isn't real, or that it isn't significant when measured over geologic time scales ("Gosh, it was a lot warmer when Jesus walked the earth!"), or 2) the significant global warming gas is water vapour, which can't be controlled, and anyway, nothing the U.S. has financed is anything like what China and India do normally.

Not that I think that'll fly in San Francisco, but the higher the case goes through the Appeals levels, the more likely such arguments are to be taken seriously, and the more the American -- and likely World! -- public will be exposed to the science.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-08-25 01:39  

#1  "Friends of the Earth v. Watson"

More like Fiends of the Earth. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2005-08-25 00:20  

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