Gov. Brown Blasts W.V., Texas Attorneys General for 'Crass Obstructionism' on Climate Change

Gov. Jerry Brown is heading to Paris for a conference on climate change Monday but not before he blasted West Virginia and Texas attorneys general for “crass obstructionism.”

The governor accused West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of attempting to to undermine the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan and America’s role in theUnited Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris.

Morrisey and Paxton are among officials in 24 states suing the Environmental Protection Agency for exceeding its power in control carbon emission from power plants. The two attorneys general sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to lighting the legal challenges the president face in keeping any promises he makes at the conference.

“There are significant legal limits on (Obama’s) ability either to carry out the promises he has made in advance of Paris 2015 or to enforce any agreement arising out of the summit,” the officials wrote.

The letter was copied to the leaders of the six nations attending the summit.

In a letter sent to the pair Wednesday, Brown, a former attorney general, called Paxton and Morrisey’s argument ”legally flimsy” at best.

“At worst, you’re sending a dangerous message to the world: on climate change, do nothing,” Brown wrote.

Both West Virginia and Texas are leading providers of fossil fuel -- oil for Texas and coal for West Virginia -- and demand for those commodities could fall under stricter emission standards.

“Political expediency and legal obfuscation won’t cut it,” Brown wrote. “Crass obstructionism is not a solution.”

Earlier this month, Brown joined a broad coalition of states and municipalities across the country to defend the Obama Administration’s plan to address climate change.

“You do not speak for California,” he wrote. “You do not speak for the other cities, counties and states across America that stand firmly with the President and have intervened to defend the Clean Power Plan.”

Brown implied the pair were climate change deniers and sent them individual flash drives with the complete 841-page report on “Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment” by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.