The Environmental Protection Agency signaled it would continue to postpone adopting regulations on the emission of greenhouse gases from motor vehicles today.

The EPA unveiled an “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” indicating that EPA will further delay the regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement, which merely seeks comment on a range of options, comes more than a year after the Supreme Court’s landmark global warming decision which held that EPA had illegally refused to limit those emissions. Earthjustice was co-counsel for Sierra Club in the case.

The following statement is from David Baron, managing attorney at Earthjustice’s Washington, D.C. office:

“This notice is nothing more than a stall tactic. It’s been more than a year since the Supreme Court spoke, and still the Bush administration has done nothing to cut greenhouse gas pollution from cars and trucks. Instead, they’ve made things worse by blocking stronger standards in California and other states. Now we get today’s notice, which says they just want to talk about the problem some more.

“Instead of complying with the court’s decision, EPA Administrator Johnson said today that he thinks the Clean Air Act is “ill suited” to attacking global warming. The Supreme Court rejected that view a year ago. And the Clean Air Act itself expressly protects against impacts on ‘weather’ and ‘climate.’ Instead of making up excuses for doing nothing, the EPA Administrator must implement the law.

“We need action, not just more talk. The administration is fiddling while the planet melts. If these delays drag on, we will go back to court to force real action.”