Post by TonyV on Dec 8, 2009 3:04:15 GMT -5
Last Updated: December 08. 2009 1:00AM
EPA: Emissions a public threat
Historic finding on greenhouse gases comes as climate change forum opens
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington -- The Environmental Protection Agency declared greenhouse gases, including tailpipe emissions, a threat to public health Monday, setting the stage for sweeping regulation of the nation's cars and trucks.
The agency declared emissions a public danger under its authority granted by a 2007 Supreme Court decision. The EPA's historic announcement came as United Nations climate change talks begin in Copenhagen, Denmark. The move by the EPA is aimed at prodding Congress into passing a bill to cap and reduce the nation's emissions next year.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the decision set the stage for reasonable regulations of greenhouse gas emissions.
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"This long-overdue finding cements 2009's place in history as the year when the United States government began seriously addressing the challenge of greenhouse gas pollution," she said.
The EPA said greenhouse gases "are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses."
But some question the EPA's findings and say unless countries in the developing world like China and India sign on to such changes, the United States will spend billions but won't have a significant impact on overall worldwide emissions. They also argue it could make it more expensive to manufacture goods in the United States and shift production to countries that don't regulate emissions.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama "strongly believes that the best way forward is through the passage of comprehensive energy legislation."
Monday's decision is the basis for a deal struck by the Obama administration with automakers and California to set the first-ever tailpipe emissions limits nationally. In May, the groups agreed to essentially impose California's rules nationally starting in the 2012 model year. The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration must finalize the deal by March 30.
Dave McCurdy, chairman of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing Detroit's Big Three, Toyota Motor Corp. and seven other automakers, said the announcement doesn't have a big impact in the short term since a deal already has been made. "Overall it doesn't change the calculus for the auto industry. We're already covered," he said.
But long term, the EPA is claiming sweeping authority to set tailpipe emissions limits -- a move Michigan lawmakers tried to fight for years and one that could mean the EPA will determine how powerful and large future vehicles will be. The announcement would spread the pain to other sectors like utilities and other large emitters of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Obama administration's plan assumes an average fleetwide fuel efficiency of 34.1 mpg by 2016. The regulation will cost the auto industry $60 billion between 2012 and 2016.
The EPA's move comes a decade after the agency first received California's petition in 1999 to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. In 2003, the EPA denied the petition. California and a dozen other states led by Massachusetts then sued to require regulation.
In April 2007, in Massachusetts vs. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles could be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Greenhouse gas emissions from cars, light trucks and other vehicles in 2006 accounted for 23 percent of U.S. emissions with 94 percent of those emissions as carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. U.S. autos accounted for 4.3 percent of worldwide emissions.
Robert Meyers, who led the EPA air and radiation office under President George W. Bush, said "the main event is to come. EPA indicates that new rules will be issued starting next spring. It will be very difficult to turn back, much less undo all that will be done."
Meyers warned that businesses need to start preparing for tougher regulations.
"Businesses need to know that climate change regulations are coming from the Obama Administration," he said. "This will likely roll out over a decade or more if Congress doesn't intervene, leading to uncertainty in the marketplace about the extent of regulations and the price of carbon."
Jeff Holmstead, EPA air administrator from 2001-05, said today's move is a "necessary prerequisite for the regulation of greenhouse gases from cars, trucks, businesses, factories, farms, and potentially even apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals."
"The hard part is still to come. EPA now has to figure out how it will regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act without undermining the fragile economic recovery," Holmstead said.
Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne said the key to reducing emissions is not to set new limits, but to retire older polluting vehicles.
But he said the auto industry would be part of the solution.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said critics should join forces to help pass a climate bill.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, said Congress -- not the EPA -- should act.
"Such regulation will result in a glorious mess, and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be left to Congress," he said.
Rep. Pete Hoesktra, R-Holland, said "adding more costly government mandates and increasing energy costs will result in further limiting economic growth and job creation in the currently struggling U.S. economy, especially in a manufacturing state like Michigan."
EPA: Emissions a public threat
Historic finding on greenhouse gases comes as climate change forum opens
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington -- The Environmental Protection Agency declared greenhouse gases, including tailpipe emissions, a threat to public health Monday, setting the stage for sweeping regulation of the nation's cars and trucks.
The agency declared emissions a public danger under its authority granted by a 2007 Supreme Court decision. The EPA's historic announcement came as United Nations climate change talks begin in Copenhagen, Denmark. The move by the EPA is aimed at prodding Congress into passing a bill to cap and reduce the nation's emissions next year.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the decision set the stage for reasonable regulations of greenhouse gas emissions.
Advertisement
"This long-overdue finding cements 2009's place in history as the year when the United States government began seriously addressing the challenge of greenhouse gas pollution," she said.
The EPA said greenhouse gases "are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses."
But some question the EPA's findings and say unless countries in the developing world like China and India sign on to such changes, the United States will spend billions but won't have a significant impact on overall worldwide emissions. They also argue it could make it more expensive to manufacture goods in the United States and shift production to countries that don't regulate emissions.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama "strongly believes that the best way forward is through the passage of comprehensive energy legislation."
Monday's decision is the basis for a deal struck by the Obama administration with automakers and California to set the first-ever tailpipe emissions limits nationally. In May, the groups agreed to essentially impose California's rules nationally starting in the 2012 model year. The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration must finalize the deal by March 30.
Dave McCurdy, chairman of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing Detroit's Big Three, Toyota Motor Corp. and seven other automakers, said the announcement doesn't have a big impact in the short term since a deal already has been made. "Overall it doesn't change the calculus for the auto industry. We're already covered," he said.
But long term, the EPA is claiming sweeping authority to set tailpipe emissions limits -- a move Michigan lawmakers tried to fight for years and one that could mean the EPA will determine how powerful and large future vehicles will be. The announcement would spread the pain to other sectors like utilities and other large emitters of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Obama administration's plan assumes an average fleetwide fuel efficiency of 34.1 mpg by 2016. The regulation will cost the auto industry $60 billion between 2012 and 2016.
The EPA's move comes a decade after the agency first received California's petition in 1999 to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. In 2003, the EPA denied the petition. California and a dozen other states led by Massachusetts then sued to require regulation.
In April 2007, in Massachusetts vs. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles could be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Greenhouse gas emissions from cars, light trucks and other vehicles in 2006 accounted for 23 percent of U.S. emissions with 94 percent of those emissions as carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. U.S. autos accounted for 4.3 percent of worldwide emissions.
Robert Meyers, who led the EPA air and radiation office under President George W. Bush, said "the main event is to come. EPA indicates that new rules will be issued starting next spring. It will be very difficult to turn back, much less undo all that will be done."
Meyers warned that businesses need to start preparing for tougher regulations.
"Businesses need to know that climate change regulations are coming from the Obama Administration," he said. "This will likely roll out over a decade or more if Congress doesn't intervene, leading to uncertainty in the marketplace about the extent of regulations and the price of carbon."
Jeff Holmstead, EPA air administrator from 2001-05, said today's move is a "necessary prerequisite for the regulation of greenhouse gases from cars, trucks, businesses, factories, farms, and potentially even apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals."
"The hard part is still to come. EPA now has to figure out how it will regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act without undermining the fragile economic recovery," Holmstead said.
Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne said the key to reducing emissions is not to set new limits, but to retire older polluting vehicles.
But he said the auto industry would be part of the solution.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said critics should join forces to help pass a climate bill.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, said Congress -- not the EPA -- should act.
"Such regulation will result in a glorious mess, and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be left to Congress," he said.
Rep. Pete Hoesktra, R-Holland, said "adding more costly government mandates and increasing energy costs will result in further limiting economic growth and job creation in the currently struggling U.S. economy, especially in a manufacturing state like Michigan."