EPA Clean Air Act Changes

Recently the Environmental Protection Agency, or the EPA, decided to try to declare greenhouse gases as pollutants that cause danger tot he public's health and wellbeing.  This would allow for greater federal regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.  The Supreme Court had previously ruled that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases did not qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.  If this ruling is overturned and the EPA can prove that greenhouse gases do cause or contribute to pollution that endangers, it would be called an endangerment finding and could allow the government to have great control over vehicle emissions, factories that emit these gases, and other polluters that could potentially even include dairy farmers whose cattle emit methane gas.

This proposed change could have significant impacts on pollution and global warming.  Added federal regulations could provide incentives to clean up industry, and this could help eliminate large portions of emissions.  The Clean Air Act had already significantly impacted emissions of over two hundred pollutants, and the addition of greenhouse gases could prove positive in the fight to end global warming.  Because the primary goal of the Clean Air Act is to provide clean, safe, breathable air for the public, the EPA has every right to expand the list of pollutants it would like to control, especially since greenhouse gases are proven causes of global warming.  The Natural Resources Defense Council defends the EPA's stance on this issue, and provides much information about the health problems caused by greenhouse gases and global warming.  Heat waves, allergies, asthma, disease, and dangerous weather patterns are all potentially harmful to the public, but more federal control over emissions could help reduce some or all of these problems.

The EPA is currently working on a project to collect data and analyze carbon dioxide emissions in various regions across the nation.  By gathering information about greenhouse gases, they can determine the positive, negative, or neutral effects of greenhouse gases on the public, which is important research that will certainly impact this Supreme Court case.

Because greenhouse gases do contribute to global warming and have been shown to cause health problems, the EPA should have the right to expand its control to cover greenhouse gases.  This could have significant positive impacts on our nation and the world.