The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said last week he may not decide on greenhouse gas emissions regulations under the Clean Air Act before President Bush leaves office in January. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson added that either he "or the next administrator" of the agency would finalize any possible climate-change regulations that may emerge from a call for public comments that EPA plans to issue by June 21. "It is critical that we lay that all out and have the public input," he said at a Platts Energy Podium in Washington. Johnson said that he would "prefer" to see legislation to deal with climate change and carbon dioxide emissions rather than use existing laws such as the Clean Air Act. "My experience says that a legislative fix is a much more efficient and effective approach," he said. The Supreme Court last year designated carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gases, a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act. But Johnson said the act should not be used as a means to address climate change. "I don't believe that the Clean Air Act is the most efficient and effective way of addressing a new pollutant that is a global pollutant," he said. "It was never intended for a global air pollutant."
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