EPA Pulls the Trigger

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson calls the findings that the EPA can regulate greenhouse gas "long overdue."

Image: Getty Images

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday pulled the trigger on the gun it has been holding to Congress’ head on climate-change legislation.

By finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public’s health and welfare, the EPA has the authority to issue regulations that would cap carbon emissions, regardless of whether Congress passes its long-delayed cap-and-trade bill.

“These long-overdue findings cement 2009’s place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform,” said EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

The findings were issued in response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that ruled greenhouse gases are a pollutant subject to the Clean Air Act. They initially will be used by the EPA on regulations requiring emissions reductions for light-duty vehicles.

The endangerment finding, however, opens the door for the agency to regulate carbon emissions from all sources: factories, utility plants, real estate development, you name it.

This “could result in a top-down command-and-control regime that will choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project,” said Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“The EPA is moving forward with an agenda that will put additional burdens on manufacturers, cost jobs, and drive up the price of energy,” said Keith McCoy, vice president of energy resources policy for the National Association of Manufacturers.

The prospect of heavy-handed EPA regulations makes cap-and-trade legislation look a lot more attractive by comparison. Both the House-passed bill and the currently on-hold Senate bill would create a system of trading emissions credits and give industries incentives to invest in energy efficiency and new technologies.

Jackson agrees that comprehensive climate-change legislation would be the best way to reduce greenhouse gases. But she said her agency’s endangerment finding wasn’t issued to pressure Congress to act.

Others, however, see it as a clear signal for the Senate to stop stalling.

“The message to Congress is clear: Get moving,” said Senator John Kerry, a sponsor of the Senate cap-and-trade bill.

“If Congress does not pass legislation dealing with climate change, the administration is more than justified to use the EPA to impose new regulations,” he said. “Those who now aim to grind the legislative process to a halt would later come running to Congress to secure the kinds of incentives that we can pass today.”

The endangerment finding also strengthens President Barack Obama’s hand at the global climate-change talks in Copenhagen, which began Monday

“The timing couldn’t be better,” said Joe Mendelson, global warming policy director for the National Wildlife Federation.

Both China and India recently pledged to cut their carbon emissions, he noted.

“I am optimistic that the talks will yield a workable plan to protect our children’s future,” Mendelson said.