Word: epa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) landmark decision on Friday to set in motion the process of regulating greenhouse gases had a little bit of the sardonically threatening spirit of that magazine cover. Concluding a scientific review initially ordered by a two-year-old Supreme Court case, the EPA issued its long-awaited "endangerment finding," formally declaring that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are pollutants that threaten public health and welfare. Under the Clean Air Act, that finding means that the EPA has a responsibility to address the damage caused by greenhouse gases, possibly through direct regulation...
...finding confirms that greenhouse-gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations," said EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. "Fortunately, it follows President Obama's call for a low-carbon economy and strong leadership in Congress on clean energy and climate legislation...
...That's where the endangered puppy comes in. As momentous as the EPA's decision was - the finding stated "in both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem" - no one actually wants the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases. Not even Jackson or Obama, both of whom have repeatedly stated that they would much prefer Congress to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions directly, most likely through a cap-and-trade program. Most environmentalists feel the same way. The problem is getting cap-and-trade passed in Congress; most Republicans are against it on the grounds that it might...
...possibility that in the face of congressional inaction the EPA might take matters into its own hands and directly regulate greenhouse gases can be seen as a not so subtle threat. Either act on your own, or let an EPA bureaucrat do it for you. Said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch: "If business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce continue to oppose congressional action, they ought to ask themselves, in the immortal words of Clint Eastwood, Do you feel lucky?" (See pictures of the world's most polluted places...
...EPA's move on Friday was characterized by the top global warming analyst for the National Wildlife Federation as the "single largest step the Federal Government had taken to fight climate change." But there is still a long way to go before the agency may undertake what would be the most far-reaching environmental regulation in U.S. history. The EPA's finding triggers a 60-day public-comment period before any proposed regulations could be announced, and most observers expect it would take months, if not years, for the EPA to produce rules that could control the 7.3 billion metric...