EPA Expected to Start Limiting CO2 Emissions

Agency can regulate greenhouse gases under Clean Air Act

(NEWSER) - It's official: the Obama administration today declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health, which will allow the agency to use the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions without congressional approval, the Washington Post reports. "There are no more excuses for delay," said EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, who will appear at the climate conference in Copenhagen this week. "This administration will not ignore science and the law any longer." More»

Regulation of greenhouse gasses will have more immediate impact

(NEWSER) - No matter what happens in Copenhagen, the Obama administration is preparing to make a move to curb greenhouse gases at home that has businesses up in arms. As early as today the EPA is expected to announce that carbon dioxide has officially been classified as a dangerous pollutant, meaning that the EPA can regulate its emission even without action from Congress. More»

Big industrial plants to be targeted, not 'cows and Dunkin' Donuts'

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration has given the EPA the green light to start moving for the first time toward limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from major industrial sources. The proposed new rules would affect only large facilities that emit 25,000 tons or more of carbon dioxide annually, instead of applying to "every cow and Dunkin’ Donuts," as critics of EPA involvement in emissions control charge. More»

(NEWSER) - The Environmental Protection Agency today granted California the right to set its own strict emissions standards, an about-face from Bush-era policies, Reuters reports. In a sly rebuke to the previous administration, the EPA said the move rested on a “traditional legal interpretation of the Clean Air Act.” California first requested permission to go beyond federal standards in 2005; the waiver was denied in 2008. More»

(NEWSER) - The EPA's decision today to declare carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases dangerous pollutants could have enormous consequences for US businesses, writes Andy Stone in Forbes. The big winner: green technology. The ruling could eventually give the EPA unprecedented regulatory control over everything from power plants to oil refineries to automobiles. The US Chamber of Commerce says the decision could wreak havoc on the economy. More»