Statement From The New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo On The Environmental Protection Agency's Decision To Declare Greenhouse Gases To Be Pollutants Threatening Public Health And Welfare

"I applaud the Obama Administration and the EPA for changing course and leading the way forward in confronting the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.  For years, our efforts to ensure New York’s right to regulate global warming pollution and protect New Yorkers from the financial, environmental, and health impacts of climate change have been frustrated by the Bush Administration’s refusal to recognize the obvious, that greenhouse gases are a pollutant.  The Obama Administration's decision is truly a breath of fresh air for New York and our country."  

 

"My Office will continue to pursue innovative initiatives to combat climate change, such as our ongoing effort to force major energy companies to fully disclose the risks that climate change poses to their investors.  We will also continue our efforts to push for the implementation of standards adopted by New York State in 2005 that would reduce emissions of global warming pollution from cars.  And we will continue to oppose coal-fired power plants - both in New York and nationally - that rely on out-dated pollution control technologies."