US declares CO2 pollutant, clears way for cuts

• Source: Global Times
• [01:24 December 09 2009]
• Comments

By Jiang Xueqing in Copenhagen and Zuo Xuan in Beijing

The US government plans to start regulating carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant, sidestepping a divided Congress to give momentum to global climate summit in Copenhagen.

The decision paves the way for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue standards on how much carbon dioxide US factories, buildings and cars can emit, even without legislation in Congress.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed orders declaring that six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are to blame for global warming, as pollutants subject to government regulation.

The EPA "is now authorized and obligated to make reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants," Jackson said at a news conference.

It gives US President Barack Obama, who heads to the 192-nation summit in Copenhagen next week, powerful new leverage to meet US pledges on emission cuts even if his critics in Congress derail legislation.

Yang Ailun, climate and energy manager for Greenpeace China, told the Global Times that the release of these research findings might clear the biggest obstacle concerning greenhouse-gas reduction in the US – as Obama was previously thought not to be able to do anything without the approval of Congress.

"Most of the participants in the UN climate talks take it as a positive signal," said Yang, who is in Copenhagen. "But they are also waiting for real action from Obama after the floor is open to bypass Congress."

John Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver, who is attending the summit, didn't think it was a coincidence for the EPA announcement to come out at this moment.

"It's a way of the president (Obama) to demonstrate he takes climate change very seriously. If the Congress is going to slow things down, maybe forever, he's not going to wait for it," Hickenlooper told the Global Times.

However, the move has already faced fierce resistance from business leaders and many lawmakers of the rival Republican Party.

The US Chamber of Commerce, the nation's top business lobby, feared that businesses would be subject to a host of new regulations at a time of economic uncertainty, AFP reported.

Key Republicans have also pointed to recent leaked e-mails from prominent climate scientists that they say call into question the basis behind action on global warming.

"It is unconscionable that unelected bureaucrats at the EPA have declared carbon dioxide a public danger despite a lack of scientific evidence to support their ruling," Texas Governor Rick Perry said, according to AFP.

Agencies contributed to this story