EPA Takes the First Step
The NY Times has a story about EPA’s climate change regs that doesn’t contain anything newsworthy but does get the facts right. The key facts are these:
1. EPA has little choice about regulating given the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act in 2007.
“With Mr. Obama’s hand forced by the mandates of the Clean Air Act and a 2007 Supreme Court decision, his E.P.A. will impose the first regulation of major stationary sources of greenhouse gases starting Jan. 2.”
2. The initial regulation are limited in scope and will probably be mild in application. “The immediate effect on utilities, refiners and major manufacturers will be small, with the new rules applying only to those planning to build large new facilities or make major modifications to existing plants.”
3. Nevertheless, the GOP, the tea party and the fossil fuel industry are incensed. “But the reaction in Congress and industry has been outsized, with some likening the E.P.A. to terrorists and others vowing to choke off the agency’s financing for all air-quality regulation.”
4. No matter what EPA does, it will get a fierce response from opponents.
“If the administration gets it wrong, we’re looking at years of litigation, legislation and public and business outcry,” said a senior administration official who asked not to be identified so as not to provide an easy target for the incoming Republicans. “If we get it right, we’re facing the same thing.”
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
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5 Replies to “EPA Takes the First Step”
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About Dan
Dan Farber has written and taught on environmental and constitutional law as well as about contracts, jurisprudence and legislation. Currently at Berkeley Law, he has al…
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If EPA sincerely hopes to regulate carbon dioxide in order to control the global climate, then it must produce solid scientific proof that carbon dioxide is the primary cause of climate change, and that its proposed regulations would actually achieve the intended climate control.
In the absence of indisputable scientific proof, the new Congress must oppose the EPA and take all appropriate actions to investigate, curtail, defund, stall, and prevent implementation of new carbon dioxide regulations.
We must diligently pursue truth because the truth gives us insight and understanding and will eventually settle this contrived controversy. Growing numbers of ordinary citizens are learning the truth. Public opposition to EPA is increasing and will become much stronger after new leadership takes power in Congress.
Dear Forum,
I just learned that the DC Court of Appeals has stopped EPA’s attempt to suspend Texas’ air permit authority. This is excellent news and a positive step in the right direction. Hopefully, by the summer of 2011, the EPA’s carbon dioxide regulations will be dead and buried, and the economy will improve along with employment. Happy New Year.
Defending the right of its citizens to own slaves, Texas seceded from a larger polity twice before. Now they’re talking revolution because the EPA will require that new power plants, or replaced equipment in large industrial facilities, be energy efficient. That’s what BACT means. These folks know nothing of science. If they did, they might propose there own solutions to climate change.
Dear desertorosso,
Industries in Texas utilize Best Available Control Technology (BACT) to control emissions of criteria air pollutants. The EPA has not yet promulgated regulations that define BACT for carbon dioxide emissions.
It appears that Texas is replacing California as the national leader and trend setter in emerging environmental policy. Other States have followed Texas in resisting EPA’s heavy handed imposition of costly and defective regulations that are based on junk science, hysteria, and left wing political agendas. The tide has turned. Be thankful.