Oh nooess! I know a lot of born again right wingers will now be denouncing the consequences of the EPA's determination, and how it might lead to (horror of horrors) mandated regulations and restrictions on the emission of green house gases.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/GlobalWarming/story?id=7364713&page=1###
"EPA's Greenhouse Gas Mandate Causes Both Joy and Concern"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that carbon dioxide, and five other greenhouse gases spewing out of tailpipes, "endanger public health and welfare" of the American people. These gases, they said, contribute to climate change, which is causing more heat waves, droughts and flooding, and is threatening food and water supplies.
The EPA's
mandate is a critical step toward amending climate change regulations. It gives President Obama the ammunition, under the 40-year-old Clean Air Act, to order emissions reductions and tighten regulations. That could include measures such as requiring more fuel-efficiency in cars and less carbon dioxide emission at plants and industries.
* * *
But it is also already causing an uproar in the business community.
Critics say the administration's actions could cost jobs -- as many as two million -- and drive up energy prices. There also is concern that it will lead to government regulation of office buildings, planes, ships, farms, even cows, which are big methane gas producers.
"If they decide to ... regulate under the Clean Air Act, that literally puts EPA in charge of entire economy," said Bill Kovacs, vice president for the Environment, Technology and Regulatory Affairs Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"It would be a disaster," he added. "They're trying to pressure Congress and the business community to do something that they would really rather not do, because they also know that there is a risk that this regulatory cascade will actually go into effect." ###