TMCnet News
Boulder, Colo., OKs global warming lawsuit settlement(Daily Camera (Boulder, CO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 21--BOULDER, Colo. -- Boulder's elected leaders Tuesday night unanimously agreed to settle a lawsuit against two federal agencies that the city, along with other cities and an environmental group, took to court. The case was an attempt to get the agencies to follow environmental regulations even for projects they fund overseas. Mayor Shaun McGrath said the case shows how much the debate over global warming has changed since 2002, when the City Council decided to join the legal fight. For one thing, a new presidential administration much friendlier to the idea of limiting greenhouse gas emissions has just taken office. "I think the wins that we did achieve here were significant," he said. "I also think that it's appropriate for us to settle, given the many changes that have happened. ... I'm confident that the United States is back in the game." Boulder was one of several cities to join the lawsuit, brought by the environmental activist group Friends of the Earth against the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the Export-Import Bank of the United States in 2002. Those two agencies fund billions of dollars' worth of projects -- many of them for exploration for oil and gas -- overseas. The nonprofit group, along with the cities of Boulder, Arcata, Oakland and Santa Monica, Calif., sued the two agencies to force them to abide by federal regulations -- and to assess the contribution their projects would make to climate change. In 2005, Boulder and the other plaintiffs won a major victory when a federal court judge agreed that they had standing -- that is, the legal right to bring a suit -- on the grounds that the cities could be affected by global warming. "This was the first court opinion that said greenhouse gas emissions in Chad and Saudi Arabia could have an effect on the environment of the United States" and that U.S.-funded projects could therefore be subject to U.S. regulations, assistant city attorney Sue Ellen Harrison said. Under the terms of the settlement, which still needs a judge's approval, the Overseas Private Investment Corp. agrees to subject all "Category A" projects -- those that would result in the emission of more than 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide -- to federal regulations; report the greenhouse gas emissions of those projects; reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of Category A projects by 20 percent over the next decade; and spend millions annually on renewable-energy projects. The Export-Import Bank's officials would take similar steps to start addressing the impact of greenhouse gases, and to find ways to reduce them in bank-funded projects, according to the city. To see more of the Daily Camera, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailycamera.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |