CLIMATE POLICY MOVES

April 21st, 2009
by Will Sarni

This past week was filled with news stories regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “endangerment ruling.”

Some background, and how this latest move “fits” within the quickly evolving U.S. policy:
On April 2, 2007, in Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the Supreme Court found that greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act. The Court ruled that the U.S. EPA Administrator must determine “whether or not emissions of greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare, or whether the science …

Carbon, Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

March 2nd, 2009
by Will Sarni

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 …