It's hard to imagine a rationale that would have the government declare each and every person in America a danger to the environment, but that's exactly what Obama's new Global Warming Czar, Carol Browner, just did.
The last time I checked, the scientific community was still divided on whether or not global warming even exists, and yet our government is rushing forward with plans to control everything from automobile manufacture to, presumably, our personal exhalations, in an effort to "combat" it.
Now, in the quest to eliminate carbon from our environment (it's awful stuff, so we hear), they are going after carbon dioxide. That's what we exhale. It's also what plants breathe. I wonder how many Obama voters know that?
Take a deep breath. Now let it out. How does it feel to be an environmental criminal?
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's climate czar said Sunday the Environmental Protection Agency would soon issue a rule on regulation of carbon dioxide, finding that it represents a danger to the public.
The White House is pressing Congress to draft and pass legislation that would cut greenhouse gases by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050, threatening to use authorities under the Clean Air Act if legislators don't move fast enough or create strong enough provisions.
Carol Browner, Obama's special adviser on climate change and energy, also said the administration was seeking to establish a national standard for auto emissions that could mean tougher efficiency mandates for automakers.
"EPA's going to look at Mass. Vs. EPA and will make an endangerment finding," Browner told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. The Supreme Court ordered the EPA in the case to determine if carbon dioxide endangered public health or welfare.
"The next step is a notice of proposed rulemaking," for new regulations on CO2 emissions, Ms. Browner said one the sidelines of the National Governors Association meeting, one of her first public appearances since inauguration.
Ms. Browner declined to say exactly when the EPA would issue the finding or rulemaking, but EPA chief Lisa Jackson has indicated it could be on April 2, the anniversary of Mass Vs. EPA.
Officially recognizing that carbon dioxide is a danger to the public sets would trigger regulation of the greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, refineries, chemical plants, cement firms, vehicles and any other emitting sectors across the economy.
Industry fears it could shut down the economy, not only preventing plants to operate and a drastic retooling of the energy sector but also pushing costs up uncompetitively, while environmentalists say that Administration action is required by law and to pressure lawmakers to act.
But Ms. Browner said the Administration would prefer that Congress would draft legislation rather than co2 to be regulation under the Clean Air Act because lawmakers could develop a bill that could more deftly regulate the greenhouse gas through a cap-and-trade system.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said Friday he aimed to pass a climate change bill by the end of the summer, and Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) head of the panel responsible for drafting a co2 bill, said he wanted a bill approved by Memorial Day.
Ms. Browner also declined to say what the Administration's target date for Congress to pass a climate bill before accelerating the Clean Air Act rulemaking - officials can speed up or slow down the process -- but called Waxman's schedule an "aggressive" one.
"In the next several weeks we will begin to see the shape of legislation ... (and) we will work with Congress as they shape it," she later told a group of Western Governors.
The climate czar dismissed critics of fast, stringent climate change laws that have said that the existing financial crisis would only be exacerbated by putting a premium on emitting carbon dioxide. She said businesses hoping to invest in CO2 mitigation projects needed more certain policy signals to plow cash into projects and companies, and that the rulemaking subsequent to legislation would create a buffer for action and compliance.
Specifically, Mr. Obama wants an economy-wide law -- instead of just some major emitting sectors -- and to auction off 100% of the emission credits, which analysts say could exponentially increase the cost of emitting -- and the pay-off for low-carbon projects.
Ms. Browner also said the Administration had directed the EPA and the Department of Transportation to develop a national policy for auto emissions, but declined to elaborate. The DOT is currently developing new auto efficiency standards, but the Administration is currently considering a request from California to implement their own much stricter standards that is likely to be followed by more than a dozen other states. The Administration could seek to implement the California standards, or a negotiated version.
Car makers have expressed concern not only about the costs of meeting the tough new standards, but also having to make cars that have to meet two different mandates.
Separately, Ms. Browner said the Administration was also going to create an inter-agency task force to site a new national electricity transmission grid to meet both growing demand and the President's planned renewable energy expansion. Siting has been a major bottleneck to renewable growth, and lawmakers and Administration officials have said they're likely to seek greater federal powers that would give expanded eminent domain authorities.
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