Ruling Might Trigger Emissions Regulations
By Ian Talley , Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency has sent the White House a proposed finding that carbon dioxide is a danger to public health, a step that could trigger a clampdown on so-called greenhouse-gas emissions across a wide swath of the economy.
If approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the endangerment finding could clear the way for the EPA to use the Clean Air Act to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases believed to contribute to climate change. In effect, the government would treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The EPA submitted the proposed rule to the White House on Friday, according to federal records published Monday.
Such a finding would ratchet up pressure on Congress to enact a system that caps greenhouse gases -- which trap the sun's heat in the earth's atmosphere--and creates a market for businesses to buy and sell the right to emit them, as President Barack Obama has proposed.
A White House spokesperson said Monday that President Obama's
"strong preference is for Congress to pass energy security legislation
that includes a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions. The Supreme Court
ruled that the EPA must review whether greenhouse-gas emissions pose a
threat to public health or welfare, and this is simply the next step in
what will be a long process that engages stakeholders and the public."
The administration has proposed a cap-and-trade system that could
raise $646 billion by 2019 through government auctions of emission
allowances. Environmentalists want the administration to act on climate
change before December, ahead of talks aimed at forging a successor to
the Koyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement that commits many
industrialized countries to reducing their greenhouse-gas emissions.
EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn declined to comment on the details of
the endangerment proposal, saying it was "still [an] internal and
deliberative" document.
But in a move that indicated the potential scope of regulation, the
EPA earlier this month proposed a national system for reporting
carbon-dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions by major emitters.
The EPA has said about 13,000 facilities, accounting for about 85% to
90% of greenhouse gases emitted in the U.S., would be covered under the
proposal.
Industry officials say it will still take months, possibly even
years, for the administration to finalize rules for regulating
greenhouse-gas emissions.
According to an internal document presented by the EPA to White
House officials earlier this month, the EPA believes the health effects
of elevated greenhouse-gas levels could cause "severe heat waves...with
likely increases in mortality and morbidity, especially among the
elderly, young and frail." The agency also said climate change caused
by higher greenhouse-gas levels could result in more severe storms and
more suffering related to "floods, storms, droughts and fires."
Business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the
National Association of Manufacturers warn that if the EPA moves
forward on regulation of CO2 under the Clean Air Act -- instead of a
measured legislative approach -- it could hobble the already weak
economy.
Coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and domestic industries,
such as energy-intensive paper, cement, fertilizer, steel, and glass
manufacturers, are worried the increased cost burdens imposed by
climate-change laws will put them at a severe competitive disadvantage
to their international peers who aren't bound by similar environmental
rules.
Environmentalists, however, have called for the endangerment
finding, and say action by Congress or the Obama administration to curb
greenhouse gases is necessary to halt the ill effects of climate change.
Write to Ian Talley at ian.talley@dowjones.com
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"Environmentalists want the administration to act on climate change before December,...." In other words, before the truth about climate change becomes more prevalent so as to widely expose the lies continually perpetuated by Al Gore and his minions. The financial, social, and true environmental costs we stand to suffer if the global warming alarmists continue to push their agenda, are downright frightening.
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