Judge to rule on US global warming case within a couple of months

Houston (Platts)--15Aug2005

A US District Court judge in New York could take up to two months to decide
whether or not to dismiss a global warming case brought by eight states and
the City of New York against five of the US' largest electric utilities, the
judge's court deputy said Monday. The case was brought July 17, 2004, with
oral arguments on whether it should be dismissed or not heard last Friday in
Judge Loretta Preska's Southern District of New York courtroom in Manhattan.

The attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Iowa, New Jersey, New York,
Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, along with the City of New York and three
non-profit organizations, had asked a federal court to require a ten-year
cut-back in carbon dioxide emissions from 174 power plants owned by American
Electric Power Co Inc, American Electric Power Corp, Southern Company, The
Tennessee Valley Authority, Excel Energy Inc, and Cinergy Corp. A number of
attorneys and observers present at the hearing said Monday the nature of Judge
Preska's questions and comments suggested she may be leaning toward dismissal.

The eight states said "there is clear scientific consensus that global warming
has begun and that most of the current global warming is caused by emissions
of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion."
They said the utilities were responsible for emitting some 650-mil tons of
carbon dioxide a year, or roughly 10% of all CO2 emissions in the United
States derived from human activity. 

The complaint sought "an order requiring defendants to reduce their emissions
of carbon dioxide, thereby abating their contribution to global warming, a
public nuisance." The five firms, in motions to dismiss the case, said the
states were "seeking relief in the wrong forum." Adding: "Evidently
dissatisfied with the pace and results of the democratic process, plaintiffs
improperly seek to create a new area of federal common law and, through vague
maxims of equity jurisprudence, to establish carbon dioxide emissions
standards for operations outside their own States that Congress and the
Executive Branch have repeatedly declined to adopt."

For more information, take a trial to Platts Electric Utility Week at
http://electricutilityweek.platts.com.

Please visit: www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.