24 February 2009 – President Barack Obama's climate czar said the Environmental Protection Agency would soon issue a rule on CO2 regulation, finding that it represents a danger to the public, according to a report from Dow Jones.
The White House reportedly is pressing Congress to pass legislation that would cut greenhouse gases by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050, threatening to use authority under the Clean Air Act unless legislators create stronger provisions.
Carol Browner, Obama's special advisor on climate change and energy, told Dow Jones the EPA would look at the case of Massachusetts vs. EPA and make an endangerment filing. The next step would be a notice of proposed rulemaking for new regulations on CO2 emissions.
Browner declined to say exactly when the EPA would issue the finding or rulemaking. But EPA chief Lisa Jackson indicated it could be on April 2, the anniversary of the Massachusetts court case.
Jackson said earlier in February her office would begin drafting rules for regulating CO2. The agency has been reviewing and updating an existing endangerment finding made last year by agency officials that found CO2 threatened human welfare.
Browner said the administration prefers that Congress draft legislation rather than regulate CO2 under the Clean Air Act because lawmakers could develop a bill regulating the greenhouse gas through a cap-and-trade system.
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