RSSThe Beginning of the End
Tom Bowler | April 17, 2009
Carbon dioxide, CO2, is now considered a pollutant, subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.
‘EPA Proposes Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Write
Friday, April 17, 2009; 12:41 PMThe Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposal today finding greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to the public’s health and welfare, a determination that could trigger a series of sweeping regulations affecting everything from vehicles to coal-fired power plants.
In a statement issued at noon, EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson said, “This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations.”
She added, “This pollution problem has a solution — one that will create millions of green jobs and end our country’s dependence on foreign oil.”
The finding identifies six gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluorid — as contributing to global warming.’
Keep in mind that these gases add up to less than 1% of the atmosphere. CO2 is measured at around 300 parts per million. If you do the arithmetic you find that it amounts to .03%. That is, three one hundredths of one percent. And how will that .03% affect the economy and life in America?
‘In a teleconference with reporters this week David Doniger, policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate center, said he did not think the agency would target small emitters of greenhouse gases if it began regulating emissions under the nearly 40-year old Clean Air Act.
“That is just not true,” said Doniger. “EPA is able to focus on the big stuff, the big sources of global warming pollution.”
Even before the formal announcement, experts predicted the decision would transform the federal government’s role in regulating commercial operations across the country. Roger Martella, who served as EPA’s general counsel under Bush and is now a partner at the firm Sidley Austin in Washington, issued a statement saying, “The proposed endangerment finding marks the official beginning of an era of controlling carbon in the United States.”
“This means that EPA’s mission of environmental protection will burst outside those bounds and place it on the stage as one of the most influential regulators of both energy use and the greater economy in the upcoming year,” Martella added. “The proposal, once finalized, will give EPA far more responsibility than addressing climate change. It effectively will assign EPA broad authority over the use and control of energy, in turn authorizing it to regulate virtually every sector of the economy.”‘
If you think for a moment that EPA authority over the private sector will be uninfuenced by the size of a company’s campaign contributions, you ought to think again. This power grab through environmental regulation is positively totalitarian in scope.
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