Monday, December 7, 2009; 2:16 PM
The Obama administration formally declared Monday that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to the public's health and welfare, a move that lays the groundwork for an economy-wide carbon cap even if Congress fails to enact climate legislation.
The move, announced by Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson, comes as the largest climate change conference in history gets underway in Copenhagen. It finalizes an initial "endangerment finding" by the government in April.
Speaking in an ornate room at EPA headquarters, Jackson said that greenhouse gases are "disrupting the natural balance in our atmosphere and changing our climate . . . The overwhelming amount of scientific evidence shows the threat is real."
Jackson said that she did not know when the EPA would reveal detailed plans for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, or if the agency would wait to see if the U.S. Senate passes climate legislation early next year. Jackson said that legislation was still the best way to tackle the problem -- but said she was not trying to prod Congress with Monday's finding.
Instead, Jackson said, the administration was bound to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's order in 2007 to determine if these emissions endanger public health.
"There are no more excuses for delay," she said. "This administration will not ignore science and the law any longer."
The endangerment finding stems from a 2007 Supreme Court decision in which the court ordered the EPA to determine whether greenhouse gases qualify as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. It could trigger a series of federal regulations affecting polluters, from vehicles to coal-fired power plants.
Businesses argue that such a finding would mean even emitters as small as a mom-and-pop grocery store would be forced to comply with onerous greenhouse gas regulations. The administration has crafted rules that would exempt facilities that emit less than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide or its equivalent annually. But it remains unclear whether that exemption would hold up in court.
"An endangerment finding from the EPA 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," Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. "The devil will be in the details, and we look forward to working with the government to ensure we don't stifle our economic recovery."
Business leaders warned that EPA regulations on greenhouse gases would be tied up in litigation for years and that the announcement was politically motivated to coincide with the opening of the international climate change summit in Copenhagen.
"This action poses a threat to every American family and business if it leads to regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Such regulation would be intrusive, inefficient, and excessively costly," said the American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard in a statement. "There was no compelling deadline that forced EPA's hand on this decision. It is a decision that is clearly politically motivated to coincide with the start of the Copenhagen climate summit."
Facilities that produce at least 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide or its equivalent yearly account for nearly 70 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources.
Environmentalists said the scientific finding will spur Congress, which has yet to enact a final climate bill, to take action. The House passed a bill in June, but the Senate will not take up its version until 2010.
Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, said officials on the state and local level "are extraordinarily pleased that President Obama is making this endangerment finding. It will trigger subsequent measures to continue on the road toward making significant progress to address the global warming problem."
Staff writer Steven Mufson contributed to this report.
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