Groundbreaking greenhouse gas ruling gives Obama Copenhagen boost

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday issued a groundbreaking endangerment finding, ending years of controversy by finally admitting that greenhouse gases pose a significant threat to human health and can be regulated under the existing Clean Air Act.

The announcement, carefully timed to coincide with the Copenhagen talks and backed by the White House, gives the EPA the ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for the first time, following years of internal debate and legal action from advocacy groups.

The endangerment finding covers both current and projected emissions of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perflourocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

It means that the EPA could impose new emission standards on vehicles, power stations and industrial plants from as early next year. It could also effectively ban the most polluting vehicles and energy technologies if it chose to do so.

"EPA has finalised its endangerment finding on greenhouse gas pollution and is now authorised and obligated to make reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants," said Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator. "This administration will not ignore science or the law any longer."

Significantly, the endangerment finding gives the president additional leverage in his goal to drive down carbon emissions within the US, even if the Republican Party continues to block the passage of cap-and-trade legislation through Congress. It effectively turns the Clean Air Act into a potential legislative tool with which to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The White House has signalled that it would prefer to regulate emissions through the cap-and-trade bill, but the new ruling allows Obama to increase pressure on Republicans to support the bill or else face potentially more on erous legislation through the Clean Air Act.

In a taster of the debate that is now expected to dominate the passage of the bill through the Senate, the legislation's co-author Senator John Kerry hinted that the cap-and-trade scheme may now prove more palatable to lawmakers. " Imposed regulations by definition will not include the job protections and investment incentives we are proposing in the Senate today," he said.

The move also strengthens the hand of US negotiators at this week's Copenhagen Summit, where the US is being asked to demonstrate that it can deliver the binding emission-reduction targets demanded by other countries. To date, Obama's pledge to cut emissions by at least 17 per cent on 2005 levels by 2020 has been provisional on approval by Congress. However, the EPA's ruling would allow the US negotiating team to offer much stronger guarantees that the promised emission cuts would be delivered.

In addition to the wider political implications, the move also gives the EPA more immediate regulatory ability.

Alongside the endangerment finding, the Agency released a "cause or contribute" finding, that the combined emissions of greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution that threatens public health and welfare.

"Today's announcement, on its own, does not impose any new requirements on industry," explained Jackson. "But the announcement is the prerequisite for strong new emissions standards for cars and trucks: the ones the president announced last spring."

The EPA is now expected to move forward with the proposed vehicle standards, which would impose a national fuel-efficiency standard of 35.5 miles per gallon on cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles covering model year 2012 through 2016.

The endangerment finding represents the latest chapter in a long-running legal saga.

A 2007 lawsuit between Massachusetts and the EPA led the Supreme Court to conclude that greenhouse gases were covered by the Clean Air Act. As a result, the EPA was required to formally decide whether or not it would regulate greenhouse gases, but under pressure from the Bush White House it stalled the decision until after Obama's election.

However, the legal battle may not yet be over, with a number of senior Republicans warning yesterday that any attempt to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act would face numerous legal challenges.