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EPA: No New Regs for Greenhouse Gases
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce today that it will not issue new regulations for greenhouse gas em missions this year, delaying action on the issue until the next Administration takes office. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA must regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, or provide a good reason for not regulating it. The EPA argued that it did not have the authority under the act to regulate carbon dioxide partly because the gas is a ubiquitous substance, and not simply a product of emissions from factories and power plants.The EPA denied that it is dragging its feet on the regulations, saying that regulating is, "a long process."
"You don't just wake up one day and say, 'Here's the decision.' It's a long process with lots of thought, lots of analysis and lots of research that gets you to that decision point. We're going to be more transparent than we've been, laying it all out and saying, 'How should we do this?'"But some inside the agency tell the Washington Post a story of a series of moves by the Administration to deliberately delay new regulations, including editing congressional testimony, changing official agency policy, and burying reports from career professionals in the agency. In effect, putting a bureaucratic lockdown on the process. "They argued that this increase in regulation should be on the next president's record," an unnamed official told the Post.
Part of the debate revolves around whether the agency should declare global warming to be harmful to human health and welfare. Making such a declaration would require the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide, potentially adding billions of dollars in regulatory costs for auto makers, utilities, and industrial producers. That drew criticism from Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
"If this administration spent the same effort fighting global warming as they do editing and censoring global warming documents, the planet might not be in such dire straits."
But it is far from certain that U.S. action alone would do anything to significantly impact global warming, if it is indeed caused by human activities. And the sheer magnitude of the changes required in the U.S. economy to fight greenhouse gases argue for a slower approach to developing regulations meant to control em missions of carbon dioxide. The delays inherent in government rule-making, the timing of the Court's decision so late in the Bush Administration's term, as well as the complexity of the task, have all combined to slow the process. Ultimately, that may be a good thing.
Recent Comments
(Page 1 of 1)Pete12:52PMJul 11th 2008
Mark,
While I'll agree that a cautious approach is best when it comes to the regulation of CO2 emissions, I find it curious that you chose to include the following line.
"...if it is indeed caused by human activities."
I read through the IPCC Working Group 1 Report the other day and it seemed to conclude that, with an exceedingly high level of certainty, the rise of GHG concentrations was directly and indirectly caused by human actions.
Mark Impomeni12:58PMJul 11th 2008
Pete,
The U.N. also says that the average global temperature hasn't gone up since 1998. In fact it's decreasing. But human activities haven't changed significantly over that time period. In fact, environmentalists tell us our behavior is getting worse, not better.
The point here is not to debate global warming. Clearly I'm a skeptic, and you are not. Regardless, we should be able to agree that any rational analysis of whether to regulate a problem ought to include the possibility that there is no problem.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Sincerely,
Mark Impomeni
Pete1:20PMJul 11th 2008
Mark,
In all fairness, I was a skeptic regarding global climate change until the most recent IPCC report was released.
Mark Impomeni2:08PMJul 11th 2008
Pete,
The same people who released that report say that the world hasn't warmed since 1998. That's why I included the phrase you originally objected to in the piece.
Sincerely,
Mark Impomeni
FOXYLYNX2:37PMJul 11th 2008
THANK GOODNESS - ALL THE REGS AND RULES COST US A LOT MORE PER HOUSEHOLD ON ENERGY. WE CAN NOT PAY ANYMORE - DOESN'T THE DAMN GOVERNMENT UNDERSTAND THIS. OBAMA AND THE FAR LEFT LIBS IN CONGRESS ARE GOING TO MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO AFFORD ANYTHING ANYMORE. GET PELOSI OUT AND TAKE REID WITH YOU. WHEN GAS COSTS YOU 10./GAL WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO, WHEN IT COSTS 30 PERCENT OF YOUR INCOME TO HEAT YOUR HOME WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO. GET READY TO FEEL LIKE A 3RD WORLD NATION.
Pete3:09PMJul 11th 2008
Mark,
Oh yeah. When I saw Global Warming, I took it to mean Global Climate Change. I interpreted the comment as being skeptical of the results of the IPCC reports, and not at Global Warming specifically.
Splash4:07PMJul 11th 2008
Global Warming. What a sham. Maybe the world is warming, maybe it isn't. One thing is warming though and that is the desire of those salivating at the mouth over the creation of a whole new way to transfer and increase wealth.
Cap and trade companies are getting in gear and lining up much the same way many hotels are already wired for the one armed bandits should their states pass laws allowing casinos. Cap and trade doesn't help meet any significant goals; we just pay for the right to emit. Pretty soon we would be running a carbon deficit the same as we run a budget deficit. It's the American way.
If you are going to regulate CO2 emissions then you have to regulate Methane and Water Vapor, by far the two greatest and most efficient of the heat trapping gases. Pretty soon we will have a meter on everyone's asses going cha-ching every time they fart.
I was reading the script to Al Gore's Oscar winning documentary. The script goes under a different title: The Complete Idiot's Guide To Global Warming. It contains so much speculation that global warming is manmade and so many significant possibilities blaming nature for climate change (a much more likely culprit; since she has done it before).
Every one of these alternatives hit the editing room floor by the time An Inconvenient Truth hit the big screen. Libs (and Al is one of the biggest) want us to be at fault. It gives them something to save us from, another reason to be and more money to steal, um, I'm sorry, redirect.
The Earth heats, it cools, it heats and it cools and it is extremely arrogant for us to think that our blink of a presence on this Earth can overcome or induce anything Mother Earth doesn't permit. If she wants to kill us off as a species, then you might as well start getting your affairs in order.
We would be better off planning to shield ourselves from the impact of the sun with this new artificial cloud than altering our habits.
If America shut down tomorrow, didn't turn on so much as another light bulb, start another car, burn one more blip of fossil fuel and stopped passing gas (that was an direct reference to congress) we would not impact the actions of the other 5.8 billion people on this planet who will continue to fart whenever they want to.
The other 5.8 billion may be too smart to fall for global warming as we saw at the last G-8 summit. Sacrificing the world economy is just not worth acting on, at best, a supposition and, at worst, an intentional fabrication.
Man, it's hot in here.
Charlies Angel5:03PMJul 11th 2008
Here is Nancy Pelosi's phone number. I just got it off of Fox News. Call her and tell her we want to drill now. 202-225-0100
Tommy Christopher5:20PMJul 12th 2008
Simple Chronic Parrotosis, an insidious disease that causes sufferers to think up jokes that only they think are clever, then paste them all over the internet, is sweeping the population of the lower 48 states.
Symptoms include irritability and an odoriferous, oily discharge. The only known treatment is a really good spam filter.
Not to be confused with "Post Turtle Disease," whose sufferers don't actually think something up.
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Vera12:48PMJul 11th 2008
We all know Hillary has those 18,000,000 supporters that LOVE her to death..
So please help her by showing your love...
This is my challenge to Clinton supporters...
If you like Hillary please send her $1 this month...
If you really loved her please send her $5...
If you really - really - really loved her send her $10...
And all of you McCain supporters that are thankful to the bitter Clinton supporters please send her $100, you could afford it much more then the poor uneducated, white, bitter Clinton followers...
By next month all eighteen plus million of you will pay off her debt and we will not have to listen to her begging anymore...
This will also be an indicator of how many people truly care about the Clintons...