Global Warming In the News

WASHINGTON -- Carbon dioxide emissions by cars, power plants and factories can be regulated under the Clean Air Act just like other pollutants because they fuel global warming and that threatens human health, the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday.

The "endangerment finding," which would become final after a public comment period, means the EPA could impose limits on carbon emissions even if Congress does not pass a climate change law.

In announcing the proposed finding, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, the former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said the EPA analysis "confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations" and warrants steps to curtail it.

Democratic New Jersey leaders and environmentalists cheered the action, but the House Republican leader said it was an opening for an energy tax and a conservative candidate for governor said it was part of a plot to drive American jobs overseas.

EPA scientists concluded six greenhouse gases fuel global warming, which can lead to such health threats as frequent flooding, droughts, and increased ground-level ozone, the chief component of the smog that leads health authorities to warn the elderly and people with respiratory problems to stay indoors on hot, stagnant summer days.

Environmentalists said the finding was overdue.

"'Duh' may not be a scientific term, but it applies here," said Doug O'Malley, field director for Environment New Jersey.

Studies have said warming would accelerate a rise in sea levels that could inundate transit tunnels, the Meadowlands and parts of the Jersey Shore, causing billions of dollars in property and economic damage.

New Jersey environmental officials are writing regulations to implement a state law passed in 2007 that mandates a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The state joined in a lawsuit urging the EPA to issue an endangerment finding last year, when Jackson was New Jersey's DEP commissioner.

"Congress needs to follow EPA's lead by placing science-based limits on greenhouse gases and putting Americans to work building a cleaner, more efficient economy," U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said.

But Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan said Washington officials were part of a United Nations plot to drive American jobs offshore to China or Third World countries.