EPA expected to act on carbon dioxide regulation: report

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to act soon to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing senior Obama administration officials.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has asked her staff to review the latest scientific evidence and prepare documentation for a finding that greenhouse gas pollution endangers public health and welfare, the newspaper said.

There is wide expectation that Jackson will act by April 2, the second anniversary of a Supreme Court decision that found that EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse pollution under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

Jackson said that she had not decided to issue such a finding, but pointedly noted the impending anniversary of the ruling, the paper said.

EPA scientists responded to the ruling last summer with a finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health.

The Bush administration, which opposed economy-wide moves to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, did not act on the agency’s finding.

Jackson’s decision most likely would play out in stages over a period of months, The New York Times said.

“We here know how momentous that decision could be,” she told the newspaper. “We have to lay out a road map.”

Jackson said on Tuesday the EPA would reconsider a Bush administration rule to let new coal-fired power plants open without taking climate-warming carbon emissions into account.

It was the second time this month that the administration of President Barack Obama, who succeeded George W. Bush as president on January 20, has diverged from the Bush environmental position.

On February 6, the EPA said it would reconsider whether to grant California and other states the authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions by new cars and light trucks, a request the Bush administration denied.