U.S. Environment Agency: Greenhouse Gases Threaten Public Health

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it considers greenhouse gases to be a threat to the health and welfare of the country's population.

Shortly before leaving for the UN Climate Change Conference, which was getting underway on Monday in the Danish capital Copenhagen and is being attended by representatives from 190 countries, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson declared, when speaking about the dangers posed by greenhouses gases, that "The overwhelming amount of scientific studies show that the threat is real". As CNN reports, Ms Jackson, whose agency had been ordered by the Supreme Court to investigate the effects of greenhouse gases on both the environment and public health, went on to say of the research that followed the court ruling:

These long-overdue findings cement 2009's place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean energy reform

It is further reported by the Chicago Tribune that the EPA has been empowered under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions that it is claimed contribute to global warming and/or climate change. New standards on vehicle emissions would more than likely be imposed and factories and power plants may find themselves required to more tightly control their emissions. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, one of the people responsible for a climate bill currently under consideration in the Senate, noted, in relation to the EPA announcement:

This is a clear message to Copenhagen of the Obama administration's commitments to address global climate change. The message to Congress is crystal clear: get moving

According to the Associated Press, Senator Kerry certainly appears to favor action by Congress over any EPA regulation, suggesting that legislation crafted by Congress, involving "cap and trade", would be more mindful of the costs that will be incurred by industry as a result of the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Charles T. Drevna, President of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, a trade association based in Washington D.C. with nearly 500 members, has expressed deep concern regarding the announcement made today by the EPA, explaining:

The implications of today's action by EPA are far-reaching...individual Americans and consumers and businesses alike will be dramatically affected by this decision. It is hardly the time to risk the remainder of the U.S. industrial sector in an attempt to achieve a short-term international public relations victory

It is anticipated than any new regulation would lead to lawsuits and protracted legal battles. However CNN further quotes Lisa Jackson as saying that today's announcement does not mean that new regulatory procedures are imminent. The administration of George W. Bush had reportedly refused to issue an "endangerment finding", the name given to an announcement such as the one made today, contrary to the advice of scientists at the EPA. Despite approval by the House of Representatives, legislation designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020, an 80 percent reduction by the middle of the century is another aim, has been held up in the Senate by Republican members, with some support from Democrats.