Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne (R) said today he decided to pull the state's support for two of the Obama administration's climate rules because he believes that U.S. EPA is overstepping its authority.

Horne's announcement comes one week after a federal court approved a motion to withdraw Arizona from the massive court battle. His request, which was first reported by Greenwire, made Arizona a neutral party after former Attorney General Terry Goddard (D) had gone to court in support of EPA's decision that it was legally obligated to limit greenhouse gas emissions (Greenwire, Jan. 28).

"This regulatory scheme is a classic example of a federal agency trying to do the job of elected legislators and at the same time place burdensome mandates on business," Horne said today. "The federal government cannot continue to increase its size and scope at the expense of the constitutional protections envisioned by the Founders."

Horne became attorney general last month in place of Goddard, who gave up the position so he could launch an unsuccessful challenge to incumbent Gov. Jan Brewer (R) last fall.

Goddard had supported EPA's "endangerment" finding, which concluded that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to human health and welfare. He had also backed the agency's new reporting rules, which require most of the nation's largest pollution sources to provide annual reports on their greenhouse gas emissions, starting this year.

Horne has now withdrawn the state's support for EPA in both of the cases. Today, he cited the 10th Amendment, which gives states the authority that is not assigned to the federal government by the Constitution.

Over the past year, Arizona has also changed course on climate policy at the state level.

Last February, Brewer withdrew Arizona from a planned cap-and-trade program developed by the states in the Western Climate Initiative. She issued an executive order that focused on promoting the development of renewable energy technology but did not address greenhouse gases.

Given that position, Goddard's decision to go to bat for the Obama administration's plan to address climate change prompted a dispute among top state lawmakers. Brewer has not taken a public position on whether people are causing climate change, but the state's top attorney does not need the governor's permission to take action, so Goddard was able to support EPA's finding that greenhouse gases are a danger.

The decision was met with criticism from Ben Grumbles, who was head of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality until last month. Grumbles, who was EPA's water chief during the George W. Bush administration, is now president of the Clean Water America Alliance.

"Those of us in the state government were surprised to learn that the attorney general had signed the state up in support of the endangerment finding," he said in an interview last week. "The attorney general shouldn't speak for the whole state without consulting with the governor."