ANN ARBOR—A University of Michigan expert is available to discuss the implications in the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments Wednesday (Nov. 29) regarding federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Barry Rabe, a professor at the U-M Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and School of Natural Resources and Environment, is an expert on environmental policy.

” State governments have become increasingly active players in climate policy, devising a wide range of policies designed to reduce their greenhouse gases,” said Rabe, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. ” This case represents a new turn in state involvement, namely litigation to force a far greater degree of federal engagement.”

The case is Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in which 12 states and several major environmental organizations have argued that the EPA must regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act. They argue that greenhouse gases are air pollutants and should be subject to enforcement under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA says greenhouse gases are not air pollutants and should not be subject to government regulation.

Rabe can be reached at (734) 615-9596 or brabe@umich.edu.

Barry Rabe