Loading...Deadline looming to beat back anti-business ruling
To: All GAC members and local chambers
From: George Israel
Last week, we told you about the Atlanta judge whose abuse of power threatens to disrupt our state's energy supply, subject our businesses to unprecedented regulation and severely damage our already beleaguered economy.
Defying the U.S. Supreme Court itself, and adopting the poorly reasoned arguments of environmental extremists, Fulton County Superior Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore decided that carbon dioxide emissions should be regulated in Georgia -- ignoring the high court's ruling that only the EPA has the power to regulate CO2, and the EPA's own statements that doing so simply isn't feasible.
In last week's e-mail, we also shed a little light on the implications of Judge Moore's ruling. Besides being one of the most egregious examples of legislating from the bench in Georgia's history, this ill-conceived decision would block the development of badly-needed new coal-fired power plants, natural gas plants and even biofuel plants within the state, no matter how clean-burning they might be.
In addition, it means that any sizable new building that uses natural gas for heat -- from office towers and shopping centers to churches and schools -- would suddenly require a permit under the Clean Air Act, with all the associated costs and regulatory delays. Thousands of projects could be tied up for months or years, putting Georgia at a serious disadvantage to every other state in the nation.
Next week, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce will ask the state appeals court to reconsider this judge's rash and potentially devastating ruling. If you have not already done so, I hope you'll consider lending your voice to this important effort.
Please contact Diana Lee in our office at (404) 223-2491 or dlee(at)gachamber.com to add the name of your organization, members or clients to our amicus brief before close of business on Monday, July 28. We can provide you with a draft copy of the brief upon request. I am also including a resolution (click here) supporting the initiative, which your organization, members or clients may wish to adopt.
Thank you once again for your support and friendship.
Sincerely,
George M. Israel III
President and CEO
Georgia Chamber of Commerce
