BIOMASS HUB

Today, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson officially announced the Agency’s finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health and the environment.  Emissions from on-road vehicles contribute to that threat.  The announcement comes after a thorough examination of the scientific evidence and a 60-day public comment period, which yielded more than 380,000 comments.

On its own, today’s announcement does not impose any new requirements on industry, but is the prerequisite for allowing the EPA to finalize strong new GHG emissions standards proposed earlier this year for new light-duty vehicles as part of the joint rulemaking with the Department of Transportation.  The final findings respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court Massachusetts et al v. EPA decision in which the Court held that GHGs fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants.

The endangerment finding covers emissions of six key greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride – that have been the subject of scrutiny and intense analysis for decades by scientists in the US and around the world.

The announcement comes on the day when the the US joins the world community in Copenhagen to initiate negotiations around climate change world governance.

For commentary on the future of the EPA finding, read here.