"White House’s Reworked Climate Metric Draws Lawsuit from States"

"Republican attorneys general are taking aim at the Biden administration for revamping how the federal government calculates the cost of greenhouse gases.

Twelve states led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) filed suit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, accusing President Joe Biden of exceeding the executive branch’s power in restoring Obama-era values for an analytical tool called the social cost of greenhouse gases.

The lawsuit represents the first aggressive legal attack on the Biden administration’s commitment to prioritizing climate action.

The government uses the metric to assess the harm caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases. The Trump administration slashed the value by changing the calculation’s methodology. The Biden administration reversed course last month."

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for Bloomberg Environment March 8, 2021.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 03/09/2021