Lockyer Lawsuit blames Power Plants for Global Warming

In an update to a story previously reported, the Sacramento Bee goes in-depth on California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's efforts to blame power plants in faraway places for the impacts of global warming in the Golden State:

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the nation's top five power producers to cut carbon dioxide emissions every year for at least a decade, by an amount to be determined later by the court.

The targets are far from California: American Electric Power Co. Inc. in Columbus, Ohio; Cinergy Corp. in Cincinnati; Xcel Energy Inc. of Minneapolis; the Tennessee Valley Authority; and the Southern Co. of Atlanta.

Though the targeted smokestacks are hundreds if not thousands of miles away, the lawsuit ties their emissions to the future economic, environmental and public well-being of California, Connecticut, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and New York City.

The suit paints catastrophic scenarios from global warming, including increased flooding and water shortages brought on by a diminishing Sierra snowpack, and a doubling of heat-related deaths in the Los Angeles area.

Of course, the Attorney General would have to first prove that global warming exists before he can make his case. This smells of a political petard that, even if ultimately unsuccessful, will serve to boost energy prices not only for customers of the named utilities, but also for customers of other utilities who might fear similar lawsuits in the future.