Via journeyetc.com

The Environmental Protection Agency won a big one in a DC federal appeals court. Their authority to regulate gas emissions from power plants and vehicles has been validated, and fossil fuel industries and lobbyists that have been trying for years to obstruct rules protecting us from pollution and the resulting climate change are tantruming.

Via the L.A. Times:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday dismissed four sweeping lawsuits that asserted that the Clean Air Act did not give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Such emissions have been identified as the major driver of climate change by a majority of scientists.

Wait. Climate change is… real? Somebody alert the GOP and their corporate cronies! Because, seriously, they claim to believe (because their beliefs trump reality) otherwise. Seriously.

The plaintiffs, led by states such as Texas and Virginia, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and fossil fuel interests, contended that the agency’s determination that greenhouse gases endanger human health was capricious and arbitrary.

Yeah, right, except that a conservative judge led an appeals panel to the conclusion that the EPA’s approach to regulating greenhouse gases has been “unambiguously correct.”

Key word: Unambiguously.

As for the idea that our health isn’t endangered and that greenhouse gases aren’t a hazard, well, tell that to the people who require medical care because they suffer from asthma and other respiratory problems. And then there’s that cancer thing. Methinks the plaintiffs contentions are capricious and arbitrary, not the other way around.

Of course, they and their corporate people pals wailed and stomped their oil-soaked little feet, because profit is more important than anything, including the health and well being of Americans. Money rules!

The court’s ruling also answered claims by the plaintiffs that the EPA relied on faulty science by determining that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

Duh.

But how is any of this relevant to the presidential race?

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has vowed, if elected, to strip the EPA of its authority to regulate the emissions.

Grab your firearms! Willard Romney wants to take your breathing rights away! He’s against freedom of breath! And here I thought the GOP was for life, liberty, and the pursuit of President Obama and A.G. Holder happiness. Looks like life and liberty are crossed off Candidate Etch A Sketch’s priority list.