EPA Declares Greenhouse Gases Danger To Public Health, Welfare

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday declared greenhouse gases a danger to public health and welfare in a decision that could eventually lead to new emissions regulations.

The so-called “endangerment finding” announced by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is necessary to move ahead on new emission standards for cars, while potentially opening up large emitters such as power plants, crude-oil refineries and chemical plants to limits on their output of carbon dioxide and other gases.

“These long overdue findings cement 2009’s place in history as the year when the U.S. government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy
reform,” Jackson said in a statement.

The controversial decision, which the administration indicated it would make earlier this year, comes as a global climate summit opens in Copenhagen, Denmark. The move has been opposed by many business groups and lawmakers who fear it will place a burden on the economy. The endangerment finding sets up regulation of greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act, which some experts warn would be much more blunt than climate-change legislation crafted by Congress.

CME Group