EPA will regulate greenhouse gases,
says US climate chief
Regulator will rule that carbon dioxide is a danger to public health under Clean Air Act
Per Capita CO2 Emissions Power Stations
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power stations, Barack Obama’s climate chief said this week.
Carol Browner, special adviser to the president on climate change, said in an interview on Sunday at the Western Governors’ Association meeting in Washington that the EPA is looking at a ruling from a Supreme Court in 2007 that requires the agency to decide whether CO2 emissions are a danger to public health and ” will make an endangerment finding”. [ Refer to our 17th February Entry http://www.climatecleanup.net/blog/epa-urged-to-act-on-climate-change ]
The decision will overrule a memo issued in the final days of the Bush administration that said that carbon dioxide emissions need not be considered when approving applications for new power plants.
The move would mean coal-fired power plants would be unlikely to receive the go-ahead without developing Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology [ or use our Black Box CO2 Emission Reduction Technology refer http://www.climatecleanup.net/blog/black-box ] . It could also open up heavy polluters to legal action by those who say they are affected by CO2 emissions.
When the review of the Supreme Court decision was announced last week, a permit application for a new coal-fired plant in Oklahoma was withdrawn within hours.
Many in the industry have argued that such a stringent change to policy should come through rules passed by Congress, rather than a decision by the regulator.
Browner also announced that the Obama administration is seeking to establish national rules for regulating emissions from cars.
“The hope across the administration is that we can have a unified national policy when it comes to cleaner vehicles,” Browner said.
But the Washington Post reports that rather than bypassing Congress on this policy, it is more likely that the Obama administration will seek to regulate it through a Congress-agreed cap-and-trade scheme, which would generate much-needed revenues for the federal government.
“The administration is engaged with Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation, which the president believes is far superior to a regulatory approach using the existing Clean Air Act,” an official told the Washington Post.
“If [the EPA] finds that greenhouse gases endanger health or welfare, the next steps would be taken thoughtfully and with input from all stakeholders.”
The state of California is waiting to hear from the federal government whether or not it can regulate its own car emissions.
Source: http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2237090/epa-regulate-greenhouse-gases
