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For Immediate Release
December, 07 2009, 01:54pm EDT
Contact:
Raviya Ismail, Earthjustice (202) 667-4500, ext. 221
EPA: Global Warming Endangers Public Health, Welfare
Next step must be strong limits on pollution that significantly curb global warming threat
WASHINGTON
The following statement is from Earthjustice President Trip Van
Noppen regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's declaration
today that global warming pollution poses a danger to the public health
and welfare.
"What scientists have long known is now official U.S. policy: global
warming pollution is real and has dangerous impacts on public health
and the environment. The Obama administration's announcement today
acknowledges that our nation must move quickly and efficiently to
achieve the cuts in carbon dioxide and other global warming pollution
needed to stave off catastrophic climate change. The time for talking
is over; now is the time for taking action.
"EPA has based this decision under the Clean Air Act on overwhelming
scientific evidence that global warming poses a significant threat. We
will look to the administration to continue along this path and take
the next important step of adopting strong rules that limit global
warming pollution from motor vehicles and industrial polluters.
"As nearly 200 nations begin important climate talks in Copenhagen
this week, we are heartened to see that our government is recognizing
the global warming threat. Earthjustice has been in the courts, in
Congress, and in the international negotiations,
pushing for actions to curb global warming pollution, require better
energy efficiency in appliances and buildings, and promote cleaner,
renewable energy sources. We urge the EPA and President Obama to
advocate for action in Copenhagen and commit our country to significant
global warming pollution cuts that will lead us towards a clean energy
future.
"The EPA's action today is a response to the Supreme Court's landmark Massachusetts v. EPA
decision from 2007, a case that Earthjustice argued at the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2005. As Congress
considers important global warming legislation, we encourage them
to pass a bill that preserves the Clean Air Act tools underlying EPA's
action today. This is the most proven way our nation has to reduce air
pollution and all of the damage it causes in our communities. When
there is no time to waste, today's EPA finding shows that Congress and
the agency can work together to address global warming, using both the
new climate bill and the tried-and-true solutions of the Clean Air
Act. Clean Air Act tools are an essential part in the global warming
fight and the EPA needs these tools in order to be able to
protect public health and welfare from the harms of global warming."
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
800-584-6460LATEST NEWS
With Everyone Looking for Iran War Off-Ramp, Experts Offer 'Exit Plan'
"The United States and Iran are trapped in a conflict in which each new escalation only deepens a shared, losing predicament... Sooner rather than later, both will confront the urgency of finding an off-ramp."
Mar 27, 2026
Multiple reports published in the last two days have indicated that President Donald Trump is seeking to wrap up his illegal war in Iran, which has significantly hurt his domestic political standing—partially by raising gas prices at a time when polls show US voters are primarily concerned about the cost of living.
While ending the Iran war will not be simple, some foreign policy experts believe that it can be done if both the US and Iran truly understand that deescalation is in both nations' best interests.
George Beebe, director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and former director of the CIA’s Russia analysis, and Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, have written an essay published on Thursday by Foreign Policy outlining what an achievable Iran "exit plan" would look like.
The authors acknowledged the immense challenges in getting both sides to meet one another halfway, but said this option is preferable to a drawn-out war that will leave both nations poorer and bloodied.
On Iran's side, argued Beebe and Parsi, a deal would involve renewing "its stated commitment to never pursue nuclear weapons," re-opening the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping vessels, and making a commitment "to denominating at least half of its oil sales in US dollars rather than the Chinese yuan."
The US, meanwhile, would "grant sanctions exemptions to countries prepared to finance Iran’s reconstruction" and "would also permit a specified group of states—such as China, India, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Iraq, and others in the Gulf—to resume trade with Tehran and the purchase of Iranian oil, thereby easing global energy prices."
Beebe and Parsi emphasized that this deal would only be a first step, and they said the next step would be restarting negotiations to establish a nuclear weapons agreement similar to the one previously negotiated by the Obama administration that Trump tore up during his first term.
"The United States and Iran are trapped in a conflict in which each new escalation only deepens a shared, losing predicament," they wrote. "Neither can compel the other’s surrender. Sooner rather than later, both will confront the urgency of finding an off-ramp—one that does not hinge on the other’s humiliation."
Even if Trump takes this course of action, however, there is no guarantee it will succeed, in part because of how much he has already damaged US alliances across the world.
In an analysis published Thursday, Sarah Yerkes, senior fellow at the Carnegie International Endowment for Peace's Middle East Program, argued that even nations in the Middle East that stand to benefit from a weakened Iran are now thinking twice about their dependence on the US for their security needs, given that Trump's war has resulted in Iran launching retaliatory strikes throughout the region.
Yerkes also highlighted how Trump's handling of European allies is making it less likely that they will play a significant part in helping him end the conflict.
"Europe, which is not eager to enter what it sees as a war of choice, has refrained from proactively joining US and Israeli strikes," Yerkes explained. "One of the clearest examples of the transatlantic rift was over the initial reaction to closures in the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping channel for approximately 20% of the world’s seaborne oil and LNG traffic. Multiple European countries refused to cow to Trump’s demand that they send warships to help keep the strait open, inviting public ire from Trump."
The bottom line, warned Yerkes, is that "each day the war continues, without explicit goals or a clear exit strategy, opposition to the United States—from friends and foes, inside and outside—is also likely to grow, making America less safe and less secure."
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US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday rejected First Lady Melania Trump's vision of a near-future in which artificial intelligence-powered humanoid robots do the work of human school teachers, arguing that society should instead do better by its human educators.
The wife of President Donald Trump entered Wednesday's gathering of the Global First Ladies Alliance accompanied by Figure 03, an AI-powered "general purpose humanoid robot" developed by the Sunnyvale, California-based company Figure.
“The future of AI is personified," Trump told attendees, who included Brigitte Macron of France, Sara Netanyahu of Israel, and Olena Zelenska of Ukraine. “It will be formed in the shape of humans. Very soon artificial intelligence will move from our mobile phones to humanoids that deliver utility.”
“Imagine a humanoid educator named Plato," she said. “Access to the classical studies is now instantaneous: literature, science, art, philosophy, mathematics, and history. Humanity’s entire corpus of information is available in the comfort of your home.”
Responding to Trump's remarks, Sanders (I-Vt.) said Friday on social media: "Call me a radical, but NO."
"We should not be replacing teachers in America with robots," the senator added. "We should attract the best and brightest in our country to become teachers and pay them the decent wages that they deserve."
Trump and Macron also warned about the dangers technology poses to children in remarks that came the same week that a New Mexico jury ordered tech titan Meta to pay a $375 million penalty for endangering youth and jurors in a landmark social media addiction trial found that Meta and YouTube harmed a child user of their platforms.
The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom—who is believed to be a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination—also slapped down the idea of robot teachers, as did ordinary social media users.
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FBI Disrupts Plot to Assassinate Head of Pro-Palestinian Rights Group in New York
"This disturbing case underscores the growing climate of harassment, threats, and violence directed at those speaking out on Palestinian human rights and other social justice issues."
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Nerdeen Kiswani, the co-founder of the Palestinian rights group Within Our Lifetime, emphasized on Friday that public threats and violent rhetoric from a sitting Republican congressman and a Zionist organization had preceded the news that there was an active plot to assassinate her.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force notified Kiswani and her legal team on Thursday night that "a plot against my life... was 'about to' take place, and that agents had conducted an operation in Hoboken [New Jersey] related to this plot."
The US attorney's office in New Jersey said Alexander Heifler, 26, had been charged with one count of unlawful possession of destructive devices and one count of making destructive devices, and was accused of plotting to attack Kiswani's residence with molotov cocktails. Another man had been charged in connection with the plot as well.
An undercover officer infiltrated a group call in which Heifler allegedly asked for assistance with "molotovs." The suspect also told the undercover officer he had an address for the "victim," the formal complaint reads. The officer was at Heifler's home on Thursday when he assembled about eight molotov cocktails on Thursday.
In a joint statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its New York chapter urged "a full and transparent investigation, appropriate prosecution of those responsible, and continued vigilance by law enforcement to protect all communities from hate-driven violence."
Kiswani's organization has held protests in New York that have drawn hundreds of supporters, particularly since Israel began its US-backed war on Gaza in 2023 and public opposition to the Israeli government and the United States' support for it decreased substantially.
Like other Palestinian rights groups, supporters of Israel's government have accused Within Our Lifetime of antisemitism, but Kiswani and other organizers have vehemently denied those accustions.
Group members and supporters frequently chant: “Judaism, yes, Zionism no! The state of Israel has got to go!” at protests.
On Friday, Kiswani noted that the pro-Israel group Betar and US Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who has long been known for making openly Islamophobic statements, including against Muslim members of Congress, "encouraged violence against" the organizer and her family.
Last month, Kiswani filed a civil rights lawsuit against Betar, alleging it had subjected her to physical intimidation and racially motivated threats that went "far beyond protected speech."
"It has used its social media accounts to publicly offer cash rewards to anyone who would hand Ms Kiswani a beeper, a direct reference to Israel’s 2024 use of exploding pagers to kill Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon. On multiple occasions, Betar affiliates physically confronted Ms Kiswani on public sidewalks and at demonstrations, cornering her, and shouting threats," Kiswani's attorneys said.
Kiswani said the group's threats amounted to them putting "bounties" on her head.
In response to the news of the assassination plot, Betar on Friday called Kiswani a "violent terrorist."
"Not surprising if other terrorists targeted her," said the group on social media. "Palestinians have always targeted one another. Not surprising given the violent nature of these people who have globalized the intifada."
In January, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced an agreement in which Betar said it would dissolve its New York operations and stop its “widespread persecution of Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and Jewish New Yorkers” who disagree with its stance on Israel and Palestine.
The Times reported that there was no indication that Betar was connected to the plot on Kiswani's life.
Kiswani has also been targeted by Fine, a notorious anti-Muslim bigot who responded to a satirical post by the organizer last month about dogs being "unclean" by saying, "If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
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