Word: epa
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...there is a Plan B. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases like CO2 could be considered pollutants and gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. Although that authority went unused in the waning days of former President George W. Bush's Administration, the Obama EPA has spent much of the past year preparing the groundwork for regulation. In the absence of a climate bill, the EPA has the power - and is legally mandated by the Supreme Court - to step in and address carbon emissions. (See pictures...
Problem solved, right? The trouble is that as controversial as cap-and-trade legislation has become, EPA regulation is an even bigger political minefield. Republicans are universally against it, claiming that clumsy top-down CO2 regulation will kill American jobs by strangling power plants and other industry. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, introduced a bill late last year that would explicitly prevent the EPA from regulating carbon, and she already has 40 co-sponsors. Many Democrats also have their doubts - eight Democratic Senators from coal-heavy states sent a letter on Sunday, Feb. 21, to EPA administrator Lisa...
Other skeptics have used recent revelations of a few errors in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to attack the very notion of global warming and the basis for the EPA's ruling that CO2 is a human health hazard. "The EPA's endangerment finding rests on bad science," Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, a Republican, said at an annual Senate hearing on the EPA's budget on Tuesday, Feb. 23. "The EPA needs to start over." (See pictures of the effects of global warming...
Both Jackson and President Obama have emphasized many times that they would prefer that Congress take the lead on climate change; many assumed that the mere threat of the EPA's regulatory authority would goad Congress into action. Now the question is, If the Senate won't move, can the EPA act effectively...
...from exploitation. And agencies like the OCC can be expected to protect their turf. But the status quo just isn't working, and history suggests that consumer protection will never be a top priority at agencies primarily responsible for ensuring the financial health of banks. The CSPC, FDA and EPA aren't perfect, but their clear missions have made them much less susceptible to capture by industry, and much more attractive to employees who are serious about enforcement. That's the appeal of a financial agency exclusively devoted to protecting consumers...