EPA to take action on Endangerment Finding
By Jim Roth | Phillips Murrah P.C. |
The Journal Record
[ DECEMBER 14, 2009 - OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ] - Last week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency released its decision regarding greenhouse gases, two years after the U.S. Supreme Court suggested they take action. The Endangerment Finding is a statement regarding compliance to section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act. The announcement came as the United Nations Climate Change Conference opened in Copenhagen, Denmark, although the White House suggests there is no connection to its timing.
What does this mean? It means the EPA report found that the scientific evidence surrounding climate change clearly shows that greenhouse gases (GHG) “threaten the public health and welfare of the American people” and that the pollutants should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
The study included the key greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. As the scientific community expected, carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels was the major pollutant. Electricity generation, transportation and industry represent the three largest sources of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions. On-road vehicles contribute more than 23 percent of the total. So while you may see a polluting car, truck or bus on the highway and think they are the biggest culprits, the reality is that somewhere far down that electricity line rests the biggest polluters in America – power plants (typically coal power).
Although the administration has stated that it prefers a legislative solution to climate change, President Barack Obama has made it clear that he will move ahead with EPA regulations if Congress fails to act. Waiting for Congress to take appropriate, deliberative action on this seriously contentious issue would probably be a fool’s errand. Obama is right to move ahead and work to bring Congress along, if ever. In line with this sense of urgency, the EPA has begun developing permit requirements on carbon dioxide pollution from large emitters such as power plants.
The administration said it will set the first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles and raise fuel economy to 35 miles per gallon by 2016. The EPA’s proposed standards for light-duty vehicles, a subset of on-road vehicles, would reduce GHG emissions by nearly 950 million metric tons and conserve 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of model-year 2012-2016 vehicles.
The Endangerment Finding and the aggressive stance of the administration threatens the energy industry’s big polluters, such as refiners and coal-based utilities, but power companies with greener portfolios (including cleaner natural gas generation) and companies constructing and producing parts for renewable energy could gain from stricter regulation.
Stiffer pollution control standards could well be a blessing for the growing pool of smart-grid technologies that are being developed to provide clean, reliable and secure energy, with a strong focus on renewable energy sources and conservation. Those technologies will take on added value for the utility industry if it is faced with the prospect of costly emission-control measures. After all, the megawatt of power not needed is the cheapest form of energy possible.
Scientific consensus shows that as a result of human activities, GHG concentrations in the atmosphere are at record-high levels and data shows that the Earth has been warming over the past 100 years, with the steepest increase in warming in recent decades. The evidence of human-induced climate change goes beyond observed increases in average surface temperatures; it includes melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers around the world, increasing ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, acidification of the oceans due to excess carbon dioxide, changing precipitation patterns, and changing patterns of ecosystems and wildlife.
Human-induced change or not, something must be done to control the impact of global climate change. For those who still want to argue whether it’s a reality, the issue really becomes whether it’s more prudent to limit our risks, or whether it’s better to be in denial and continue unabashed. This choice is fine, if they were only gambling with their own planet, but as it is, we are all in this together.
As the global climate summit is taking place, the EPA’s announcement sends a signal that the United States is serious about finding ways to reduce and control the pollution that threatens all of us.
Jim Roth, a former Oklahoma corporation commissioner, is an attorney with Phillips Murrah P.C. in Oklahoma City, where his practice focuses on clean, green energy for Oklahoma.