EPA backs off on auto emissions
John Lansford
The Environmental Protection Agency ruled yesterday that it lacks
authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles in another major victory
this week for industry.
The EPA formally rejected a long-standing petition from three
environmental groups to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from
vehicles as a means of dealing with the problem of global climate
change. The three are Greenpeace, the International Center for
Technology Assessment and the Sierra Club.
The agency asserted that Congress had not granted the EPA specific
authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide along
with regulated health-threatening pollutants such as nitrogen oxide
and sulfur dioxide. The EPA also said proposals for setting carbon
dioxide emissions standards for motor vehicles are "not appropriate"
at this time.
"Congress must provide us with clear legal authority before we can
take regulatory action to address a fundamental issue such as climate
change," said Jeffrey Holmstead, assistant EPA administrator for the
Office of Air and Radiation. "We already are taking a number of
actions, at home and abroad, to address climate change."
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I felt that the EPA had overstepped its bounds several years ago when
it decided to name carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. It is good that
the current leadership in that agency has backed off this ruling;
perhaps with time there will be further changes in the way they
approach mobile emission sources.
John Lansford, PE
The unofficial I-26 Construction Webpage:
http://users.vnet.net/lansford/a10/
Eric & Kathy Vander Yacht
motivations. West Michigan receives significant pollution from NW
Indiana and other areas. Air exiting the west Michigan region is
significantly cleaner than the air entering the area.
The EPA continues to attempt to impose punitive restrictions on the
victims of air pollution in this area instead of handling the problem at
the source. West Michigan is primarily republican while the source of
the pollution is mainly democratic.
SP Cook
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61598-2003Aug28.html
>
> The Environmental Protection Agency ruled yesterday that it lacks
> authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide and other
> greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles in another major victory
> this week for industry.
>
You gotta love the comPost. "A victory for industy". And it presents
the Greenhouse Theory like it was a fact. NO. A victory for vehicle
choice. That is to say, a victory for the CONSUMER. Why would
"industry" (especially Siera Club member/enviro-kook Bill Ford) care
what type of cars it makes, except for the fact that these rules
represented a return to the designed in Washington days when the EPA
dictated that manufacturers waste money to design and then make cars
that did not exist at the time and which no body really wanted.
Now, consumers will have the choice of more types of cars. With
gasoline and Diesel kept to their current formulations (not even more
oxygenates, which rob fuel mileage and thus raise gas prices).
Wonderful news.
SP Cook