EPA delays decision on regulating greenhouse gases

摘要

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has effectively delayed until the next administration any decision on whether greenhouse gases must be regulated under the authority of the Clean Air Act. Although the Bush administration has long opposed regulating greenhouse gases under the act, in April 2007 the Supreme Court ordered EPA to determine whether or not carbon dioxide (CO_2) emissions from automobiles endanger public health and welfare and therefore must be regulated under the act. On July 11, under pressure from Senate Environment and Public WorksrnCommittee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), the EPA released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The document outlines how such regulation could work, but does not find that CO_2 emissions endanger public health. The ANPR merely requests comments on the proposed regulation and how best to approach the matter.