Challengers to U.S. EPA's greenhouse gas regulations have asked an appeals court to consider a recent report by EPA's inspector general that questioned the agency's handling of some scientific data.

Various industry groups filed what is known as a request for judicial notice in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last Friday, just two days after the report's release.

There are four rules consolidated into three cases under the legal microscope before the appeals court, including the so-called endangerment finding that focuses on EPA's initial decision in which it held that greenhouse gases are harmful and therefore subject to the Clean Air Act (Greenwire, March 23).

The inspector general found that the scientific assessment backing the endangerment finding did not go through sufficient peer review for a document of its importance (Greenwire, Sept. 28).

The new report examined only federal requirements for EPA's "technical support document" and not the accuracy of the scientific studies included within it.

But its publication nevertheless led to a new wave of GOP criticism.

In Friday's court filing, lawyers for the challengers point out that EPA has told the court that Administrator Lisa Jackson "probed and weighed the science set forth in the record" before making a decision.

"Yet just days ago, EPA's own inspector general reported that behind the scenes the administrator took a very different position," the court filing states, "in response to an internal investigation, EPA maintained it did not weigh or make any independent assessment of the key reports it invoked."

Click here to read the court filing.