Why A Climate Cap Will Happen

by dday

The EPA today took a major step by declaring greenhouse gas pollution a danger to the public welfare, making it eligible for regulation under the Clean Air Act.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is officially confirming today that greenhouse gas pollution endangers the health and welfare of the American public, finally obeying the mandate set down by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 2, 2007. Following a review from the White House and agencies across the administration, Jackson is announcing this morning that she has signed the Clean Air Act endangerment finding for six greenhouse gases. By the time the decision is finalized after two months of public comment, it will have been nearly two years since the EPA was blocked by the Bush White House from issuing such a finding.

The implications of this ruling loom large over proposed climate and energy legislation under consideration in the Congress. I agree with Barbara Boxer that this finding will provide a serious boost to those efforts, because now the EPA is obligated under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon emissions.

The EPA’s endangerment finding will open the door for the Obama administration to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

Although the president would prefer not to tackle this issue through his administration’s regulatory power, the threat of EPA regulation could be used as a hammer to persuade moderate senators of both parties to get behind cap-and-trade legislation.

“What it says to the senators on the fence is that it’s not really a question of whether regulation is happening. It’s a question of how it will happen,” a senior aide to Boxer told ABC News.

Call it “blackmail,” as the corporate lobbyists do in this piece, or call it what it is, a requirement under the law mandated by the Supreme Court. So the obstructionists can block legislation in Congress and watch the EPA enact strict mandates, or they can have a say in the regulation. Their choice. We’re not accustomed to this sharp a legislative move coming from the Democrats, but that appears to be exactly what’s happening. As Ed Markey (D-MA) put it, “Do you want the EPA to make the decision or would you like your congressman or senator to be in the room and drafting legislation? … Industries across the country will just have to gauge for themselves how lucky they feel if they kill legislation.”

This is happening, so we’d better pay attention to the debate. As it happens, I had the opportunity to sit down with my Congressman, Henry Waxman, to discuss his draft climate and energy bill in the House, which he plans to clear the Energy and Commerce Committee by Memorial Day. You can read about that meeting here.

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