On April 17, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally proposed to make a finding that carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that threaten public health and welfare. The declaration, available at this link, sets in motion a process where the United States will be able to regulate gases blamed for global warming. The proposed endangerment finding triggers a 60-day comment period before EPA can issue a final finding.
EPA proposed a finding that current and projected levels of six greenhouse (GHGs) endangered public health and welfare. The six GHGs are: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The EPA noted that the combination of four of the GHGs – CO2, CH4, N2O, and HFCs – emitted from motor vehicles and engines caused or contributed to concentration of atmospheric gases and thus threatened climate change. The cause or contribute finding was limited to new motor vehicles and their engines because the case that triggered the ruling, Massachusetts v. EPA, concerned a petition seeking regulation of GHG emissions from those sources. In the Massachusetts case, the Supreme Court held that GHGs are "air pollutants" under the CAA. The endangerment finding plus the cause or contribute finding for motor vehicles and engines, if finalized, will pave the way for EPA to establish regulations to control GHG from these sources. The findings also set the stage that once EPA finalizes its cause or contribute finding for motor vehicles, it will likely make a similar finding for other sources regulated under the Clean Air Act.
The EPA announcement did not include specific targets or requirements for GHG reductions. In making the announcement, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson stated, "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations." She also, however, expressed her belief that "[t]his pollution problem has a solution – one that will create millions of green jobs and end our country's dependence on foreign oil."
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