EPA: Carbon Dioxide Endangers Human Health
Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases constitute a danger to public health and welfare and are subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. This is a significant and historic decision with wide-ranging effects, not the least of which is the regulation of carbon emissions from major polluting industries like coal.
Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is now obligated to issue rules regulating global warming pollution from all major sources, including cars and coal-fired power plants. The law specifically states that EPA "shall" (i.e. must, not may) regulate dangerous pollutants once they are found to endanger public health or welfare.
Now there is no longer a question of if -- or even when -- the U.S. will act on global warming. Today's bold action shows that President Obama is following through on his campaign promise to show American leadership on global warming.
This endangerment decision, ordered by the Supreme Court in April 2007 and based upon years of scientific research and analysis, will speed the shift toward the clean energy economy and complement the other elements of President Obama's sweeping clean energy jobs plan.
Right now the U.S. has an opportunity to establish itself as a leader on clean energy. President Obama sees the Big Picture: by shifting away from coal to clean energy, and cracking down on the corporations that pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe, we will create economic prosperity while tackling global warming at the same time.
But we know the coal industry will not go down without a fight. They are trying hard to preserve the failed status quo. They are fighting to slow America's transition to a clean energy economy.
We won't be able to secure a clean energy future unless we address the whole climate and clean energy picture; that means reducing the carbon pollution that causes global warming, cleaning up our existing energy practices and focusing on renewable and low carbon energy sources.
Dirty energy like coal is the fuel of the past. Coal simply does not fit into a clean energy future. We look forward to EPA's now impending action on global warming pollution.
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wake up sheeple, if it costs 3 cents to produce coal electricity and 15 cents and up to produce green electric i hope you are prepared under cap and trade to pay 5 times as much for your electricity. personally that would take my bill from 100 dollars a month right now to 500 a month. cant wait to see the econmy then, lmao, way to go barry. has anyone ever heard of the "medievil warm period"? or the "little ice" that followed it? how about pole shift? or changes in the magnetosphere? does anyone have an explanation that if man is causing the earth to warm we must be leaking to the other planets because every planet in this system is warming up according to NASA. why dont you search out the truth rather than get your talking points those that are politically motivated. i am an ardent supporter of being good stewards of what we have and i live what i preach, raising my own food smarter technology and such, but dont be sold something just because its cool, so is meth but look where thats got you. if this gets passed there will be riots in the streets, which will lead to troops on your streep then all bets are off. i am all for green tech but not this way.
The bad news: we have just declared a basic element of life a toxin.
Oh well.
The good news: we will come to our senses, sooner or later.
Carbon dioxide isn't a toxin or a carcinogen despite what Mr. Boehner said. It is a greenhouse gas.
Morris, Hannity, O'Reilly mock global warming, "so we kill a couple of polar bears, we gotta have gas to get to work." Their America sure isn't My America ! http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138 O'Reilly says " we all know the Appalachian Moiuntains are pristine". END MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL !
This is the AGW equivalent of activist judges legislating from the bench. No way would this legislation ever pass Congress, because of the economic damage it will do. So the Alinskyite environuts find another way to ram their faith-based agenda down America's throat. This "finding" will be the equivalent of the gun control over-reach in 1994; when the center-right majority truly uderstands the ramifications, we will vote out the Dems in 2010.
The title of this article, "Carbon Dioxide Endangers Human Health" is absurd.
In every breath a human has ever breathed there has been Carbon Dioxide. In every exhalation a human has ever exhaled there has been even more Carbon Dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is also a necessary food for all plant life. It is part of the fertilizer that turns plants green. Without plant life, animal life wouldn't have oxygen to breath. Without Carbon Dioxide the earth would be brown instead of green. We would have a dead planet, not the incredible planet earth. Rising CO2 levels would likely lead to more robust growth of plant life around us. Thus CO2 is greening our planet.
The past century has seen a significant extension of the average human life span. The past century has also seen great advances in removing particulate matter from the air of our cities in the United States and Europe. Carbon dioxide has played a part in allowing for these great advances to occur.
Don't forget Richard that plants also need water, sunlight, space, fertile soil, the right soil and water pH, trace elements, etc. Even with plenty of carbon dioxide, some other factor could limit primary plant production. At the current time the plants of the earth are not keeping up with the supply of carbon dioxide because carbon dioxide levels are increasing for some time. Water is becoming the primary limiting factor in some parts of the earth like eastern Australia.
omg melmoid!!!
where does the water go do you think?
Partly because of the loud global climate change naysayer community, cap and trade or carbon taxes will prove to be difficult if not impossible to pass. A direct regulatory approach may be the only way to proceed.
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