The following is a letter I wrote that appeared in the Grand Forks Herald on June 10, 2010. The title given was, "Court left EPA with no choice on CO2".

YURIHONJO, Japan — Scott Hennen dislikes the Environmental Protection Agency, but his reasons are not grounded in reality ("Will senators stop EPA’s assault on N.D.?", Page A4, June 5).

Hennen says the EPA is "out to regulate" tons of things; but in fact, the EPA has not announced any such plans. Hennen simply is repeating empty propaganda, probably created by people who don’t want the Clean Air Act enforced.

He also claims the EPA is a rogue agency making a "power grab," but this is just not true. The EPA is considering rules on CO2 for two reasons: First, the agency is required by law to protect our air resources for public health, and second, the Supreme Court ordered it to. Regulating CO2 is the EPA’s only reasonable course of action.

Regarding the economy, the Clean Air Act has been around for 47 years. It didn’t stop business growth before, and there’s no reason to think it will now.

Does Hennen believe in regulating dangerous pollution at all? From his letter, it seems not. This is dangerous and short-sighted. Many studies show that if we don’t take reasonable steps to curb global warming, the cost to us and our children will be massive.

Douglas Perkins