In a very brief period of time we went from no federal action on addressing climate change to both Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “rushing” to regulate carbon dioxide.
Recent articles in the New York Times (February 19, 2009) and the Wall Street Journal (February 23, 2009) summarize the recent announcement that the EPA will be moving ahead in responding to a Supreme Court order to determine whether carbon dioxide is a pollutant that endangers public health and welfare. It was almost two years ago that the Supreme Court decision (Massachusetts vs. U.S. EPA) ruled that the EPA was required to undertake this evaluation.
This move by the EPA is very likely to accelerate action by the U.S. Congress and provide some insight as to the U.S.’s position during the next round of global climate negotiations.
Basically, the EPA will review current scientific evidence and prepare documentation as to whether carbon dioxide endangers public health and welfare, an “endangerment assessment.” If the endangerment assessment determines that carbon dioxide is a pollutant it will trigger an extensive rule making effort under the Clean Air Act.
Some argue that the Clean Air Act is poorly suited as the path forward to regulate carbon dioxide and that a more efficient approach would be to have Congress tailor a bill to meet the somewhat unique aspects of carbon dioxide.
According to the media, the White House has been also pushing Congress to craft legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 concentrations by 2050. The “hammer” appears to be the threat to have the EPA use its authority under the Clean Air Act. Moreover, Ms. Browner has confirmed this by stating that although the EPA will move forward with its rule making, the White House does favor Congressional legislation to “deftly regulate” carbon dioxide through a cap-and-trade system.
I recommend watching this closely as the outcome will impact businesses from a purely regulatory perspective, and of course will create new business (product and services) opportunities for those that can innovate quickly.