(Host) Republican Attorney General Candidate Dennis Carver says he doesn’t support incumbent Democrat Bill Sorrell’s decision to file a number of environmental lawsuits against the federal government.
Speaking last night during VPR’s Attorney General debate, Carver said it’s a waste of money for the state of Vermont to challenge the federal Environmental Protection Agency over efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions to help fight global warming.
Carver says he wouldn’t pursue the case because the science on global warming is still being debated.
(Carver) “We have a total budget and we can only do so many things. There are several others involved in that lawsuit. I really don’t believe that Vermont needs to be one of the contributors. We could better use those resources for Medicaid fraud as an example problems directly related to Vermont. Let the other states carry the weight on this one.”
(Host) Sorrell strongly disagreed with Carver’s assessment about the threat of global warming and he said it’s important for Vermont to be part of this lawsuit. It’s a case that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this term.
(Sorrell) “Vermont, Massachusetts and a number of other states have filed this suit against the EPA saying do your job. If you look at global warming, you see what an environmental disaster is on the immediate horizon and carbon dioxide is the cause, and you should be regulating carbon dioxide emissions.”
(Host) Sorrell says he’s proud of the environmental agenda that he’s pursued as Attorney General and he says he’s willing to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary, to block International Paper from conducting a 2-week test burn of tires at their Ticonderoga, New York plant.