The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally acknowledged the fact that the CO2 emitted by vehicles which run on fossil fuels are dangerous to the planet. The agency said that the CO2 along with five other greenhouse gases are a danger to “public health and welfare.”

 

This acknowledgement is a big step towards regulating the emission of the aforementioned gases. Soon we might see the implementation of measures to curtail the release of greenhouse gases by cars and many industrial power plants. 

 

In an address to the press, the agency’s administrator Lisa Jackson said the EPA is ready to implement measures under the Clean Air Act, but the presidential administration prefers that Congress deals with the issue through “cap-and-trade” legislation that would regulate pollution that cause the climate change. 

 

Regulations from the EPA on greenhouse emissions will affect without any doubt major sectors of the economy such as oil, chemicals, cement, steel, forestry and large-scale farming. New rules on this from the EPA would have widespread economic as well as social effects. It would require better fuel efficiency for vehicles, limits on emissions for power plants and industrial sources and would basically change the way the United States are producing and managing energy. 

 

The fact that the EPA found that greenhouse gases are among the cause of the global warming and that they really are pollutants is a major shift from the policy of the Bush administration regarding this issue. 

 

When announcing the “finding,” EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency’s analysis "confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations" and promised it will take steps to curtail it. The EPA administrator also said that addressing this issue would also create millions of green jobs and end America’s dependence on foreign oil. 

 

The Bush administration said that the greenhouse gases were not pollutants and thus they did not have any effect on the planet’s health that mankind need to worry about. The former presidential administration sought to delay the government’s intervention in this matter. 

 

Now, the strategy has shifted with the Obama administration at the held and the new “finding” by the EPA sends a strong signal not only the Americans, but also to the other countries that America is ready to reduce its contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions. 

 

Excluding the fact that it could have come earlier, the move from the EPA couldn’t have come at a better time. In December, diplomats are preparing for a gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark, to negotiate a new treaty on climate change. Apart from that, it puts pressure on the Congress to issue comprehensive climate change legislation.