EPA: Emissions a public threat

[rickaren]

EPA: Emissions a public threat

Posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 3:00 PM EST.(Employee News)

The Environmental Protection Agency declared greenhouse gases, including tailpipe emissions, a threat to public health Monday, setting the stage for sweeping regulation of the nation’s cars and trucks, The Detroit News reported.

The agency declared emissions a public danger under its authority granted by a 2007 Supreme Court decision, the paper said. The EPA’s historic announcement came as United Nations climate change talks begin in Copenhagen, Denmark. The move by the EPA is aimed at prodding Congress into passing a bill to cap and reduce the nation’s emissions next year, The News said.

The EPA said greenhouse gases “are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses,” the paper reported. Some question the EPA’s findings and say unless countries in the developing world like China and India sign on to such changes, the United States will spend billions but won’t have a significant impact on overall worldwide emissions, the News said. They also argue it could make it more expensive to manufacture goods in the United States and shift production to countries that don’t regulate emissions, the story said. (The Detroit News)