EPA Backs Off Promise to Regulate CO2

(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»

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»

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»

Agency will act on ignored Supreme Court ruling

(NEWSER) - The EPA is expected to soon start regulating emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases for the first time, reports the New York Times. The agency is under an order—ignored by the Bush administration—to decide whether CO2 is a pollutant that endangers the public. Obama administration officials have signaled that an affirmative decision will be forthcoming within weeks. More»