EPA: Carbon Dioxide Threatens Public Health and the Environment
This afternoon the EPA announced that “greenhouse gases (GHG) threaten the public health and welfare of the American people.”
According to the press release the EPA’s final findings responded to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Commonwealth of Massachusetts et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, decided Apr. 2, 2007) that GHGs fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants. The findings allow EPA to finalize the GHG standards proposed earlier this year for new light-duty vehicles as part of the joint rulemaking with the Department of Transportation.
The EPA’s endangerment finding covers emissions of six gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.
