FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Friday, April 1, 2011
CONTACT:  Sara Rabern, (605) 773-3215

 Pierre, S.D – Attorney General Marty J. Jackley announces that he has joined 21 State Attorneys General requesting the EPA to defer its greenhouse gas regulations so that Congress may have an opportunity to evaluate the regulations. The Attorneys General advised the EPA that, "such deferral is especially important to us given the disruption that the rapid implementation of the EPA program is causing to the state administrative agencies that we advise and the businesses those agencies have been tasked with regulating." The Attorneys General further outlined that such a deferral would have the following three major advantages:

1) It would permit Congress a full opportunity to review the EPA’s Endangerment Finding and to determine the best course for our nation to pursue;

2) It would relieve pressure on state agencies attempting to implement new regulatory requirements in the face of drastic consequences that the EPA has announced it could impose if such implementation is not put in place immediately; and

3) It would help facilitate economic recovery and allow time for a study of the long term impact of the greenhouse gas regulations on both jobs and the economy.

"Protecting our environment through enforcement of reasonable regulations is important to the Office of Attorney General," said Jackley. "However EPA’s approach of circumventing normal procedures on greenhouse gas regulation is not in the best interest of South Dakota."

Other State Attorneys General joining in the EPA request include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Guam, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming and Florida.