Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli turned up the heat on global warming yesterday.On behalf of the state, Cuccinelli filed a petition asking the federal Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its December finding that global warming poses a threat to people. Cuccinelli also filed a petition with the federal appeals court in Washington seeking a court review of the EPA finding.
Cuccinelli had no comment beyond a brief e-mail to news organizations. A news conference on the issue is scheduled for this afternoon.
Gov. Bob McDonnell supported the moves. "The attorney general is acting in the best interests of the citizens of Virginia," McDonnell said in a statement. "The current federal position could have a negative impact on job creation and economic development in the commonwealth and should be reconsidered."
Cuccinelli, a Republican, took office Jan. 16. During his campaign and since, he has expressed skepticism about climate change. In the Feb. 8 edition of The Cuccinelli Compass, his e-mailed newsletter, the Fairfax County resident wrote that he was looking "out the window at 30+ inches of global snowing."
The moves signal a major shift in Virginia's approach to climate change.
A commission appointed by previous Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, found that global warming could spread disease in Virginia, threaten coastal areas and imperil native animals such as crabs. The panel, which included scientists, business people, lawmakers and environmentalists, unanimously adopted its final report in 2008.
EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said the agency's so-called "endangerment finding" is based on sound science and law.
"EPA found that the scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that greenhouse gases are a threat to the health and welfare of the American people," Andy said in a statement. "Even at the end of this exhaustive, transparent process, some special interests, and individuals who have made it their cause to deny the evidence before our own eyes, did not like EPA's answer."
Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said, "The attorney general is wasting taxpayers' money on frivolous litigation. . . . In effect, he's questioning climate change."
Besa said Cuccinelli "apparently wants to bring the Scopes monkey trial to Virginia," a reference to the storied 1925 case in Tennessee over the teaching of evolution.