E.P.A. Moves Toward Regulating Greenhouse Gases
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Marvch 24, 2009
The Environmental Protection Agency has moved to declare that greenhouse gases are pollutants that pose a danger to the public’s health and welfare. That determination, once made final, will pave the way for federal regulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases linked to global warming.
In February, the E.P.A.’s administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, hinted strongly in an interview with The New York Times that the agency would take action on the issue before April 2. That date marks the second anniversary of a Supreme Court ruling ordering the agency to determine whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
The Bush administration stalled in complying with the court order, opting for more study of the issue, although there was wide consensus among E.P.A. experts that such a determination was supported by scientific research.
The agency sent the finding on Friday to the Office of Management and Budget for review, according to a Web site that lists pending federal rules. Once the budget office clears the finding, it can be signed by Ms. Jackson.
The action, known as an endangerment finding, would allow federal regulation of motor vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases. If further action is taken by the E.P.A., it could open the door to regulatory controls over power plants, oil refineries, cement plants and other factories that emit such gases.
Although the agency’s action was widely expected, word that it was headed for the finish line stirred elation among environmental groups and Congressional Democrats and brought dire warnings of regulatory chaos from business groups.
“This finding will officially end the era of denial on global warming,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of a select committee on global warming.
John Walke, a senior lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, welcomed the E.P.A.’s decision as the opening act of a new effort to tackle global warming, one that he hoped would ultimately culminate in federal legislation. “For some period we may have parallel efforts of Environmental Protection Agency pursuing or even adopting regulation while the eventual main show will be in Congress,” he said.
But Bill Kovacs, a specialist on global warming issues with the United States Chamber of Commerce, said that an endangerment finding would automatically provoke a tangle of regulatory requirements for businesses large and small, including, he predicted, small dairy farms whose cattle produce methane gas.
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