The issue focused on what the lawyers must do when President Obama issues a new regulation restricting the use of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other fossil fuel generators. The regulations are based on the studies of experts released in 2008 and 2009 that say global temperatures would rise by more than 2 degrees Celsius if emissions continued unabated.


Mr. Pruitt called the recommendations "weak and troubling."


"There is simply no need to regulate carbon dioxide emissions and we certainly can and must do more to combat climate change