Guest Blogger: Senator John Barrasso (R-WY)

Sen. John Barrasso /

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo

Environmental Group Will Sue Small Business

The Center for Biological Diversity confirmed what I have long feared. In comments made to the Wall Street Journal the special interest group stated they will sue for the regulation of small emitters under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act.

Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying her group is prepared to sue for regulation of smaller emitters if the EPA stops at simply large emitters.

Special interest groups around the country are scheming to sue the EPA to prosecute hospitals, farms, nursing homes, commercial buildings and any other small emitter of greenhouse gasses. These regulations are a dangerous loose cannon in the wrong hands.

When asked about potential lawsuits, Regina McCarthy, the Administration’s nominee as Assistant Administrator of the EPA Office of Air and Radiation said that she will “request that I be informed if any such notice is filed with regard to a small source, and I will follow-up with the potential litigants.”

The solution to this problem is not to have government officials go around asking litigants not to sue. That is not a solution and entirely unrealistic. I quite frankly expect more.

The only jobs this option will create are in law firms as the litigation bonanza begins.

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