The Environmental Protection Agency has acknowledged that the green house gases are a pollutant that poses a danger to the public health. This means that the EPA is only another small step from the regulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that cause the process of global warming. 

 

The agency has also proposed regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. This move which would have broad economic and environmental impact was rejected by the Bush administration. 

 

The proposition was sent by the EPA to the White House office of Management and Budget where it will be reviewed, according to congressional officials cited by The Associated Press. The proposal, which was actually a “finding,” reached the conclusion that six greenhouse gases qualify as pollutants under the 1970 Clean Air Act. However, that finding doesn’t say anything about regulation, so once the White House approves it, negotiations on that matter will start. 

 

According to the agency’s administrator, Lisa Jackson, the EPA will take action on this issue before April 2, the second anniversary of a Supreme Court rule that ordered the EPA to determine whether greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Jackson said last month that she would declare global warming a treat to humanity. 

 

As promised during the presidential campaign, just a few days after taking office, President Barack Obama directed the EPA to review the decision took by the Bush administration to deny California and a number of other states to regulate the auto emissions for themselves.