| Sourced From GreenBiz.Com |
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has issued a memorandum saying that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant that is subject to regulation when approving new power plants.
Johnsons 19-page memo last Thursday produced a swift reaction from the Natural Resources Defense Council, which said the finding flies in the face of a November decision by the EPAs Environmental Appeals Board rejecting the same line of reasoning Johnson laid out in his memo.
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jblethen
on Dec 25th, 2008
@ 12:48 pm:
EPA has yet to make an endangerment finding on CO2. The period for comments on it’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) ended November 28. A decision (yes or no on endangerment) won’t be made until next year. EPA can’t regulate (limit) substances for which an endangerment finding has not first been made. This is the law and is long-standing EPA policy. Without such a policy EPA could regulate anything, dangerous or not. The November EPA panel decision violated this policy by putting the cart (regulation) before the horse (endangerment finding), hence Johnson’s memo overruling the panel.
Those who criticize Johnson and dispute this policy are saying that EPA should regulate something before it finds it to be dangerous. That makes no sense and EPA doesn’t have the statutory authority to do that.