COP15: EPA head takes the stage, defends endangerment ruling

A lot of people are up in arms that the Obama administration and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sprung its greenhouse gas endangerment ruling on opening day of the United Nations’ Climate Conference in Copenhagen. Critics around the world are calling the move contrived, rushed, and a rare strategic misstep for the president.
Responding to these claims, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson took the stage at the summit today. The ruling that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health — giving the executive branch full power to regulate them independent from Congress — was not timed or expedited to coincide with the Copenhagen talks, Jackson fired back.
The data leading to the endangerment finding has been making the rounds for years, she said. President George W. Bush had rejected a similar ruling on carbon dioxide, but this didn’t make it disappear. Finally, this year, the team at the EPA was able to gather enough new studies and gauge public sentiment to support an announcement.
The ruling would place greenhouse gas emissions under the jurisdiction of the 1970 Clean Air Act, which allows the executive branch to take measures necessary to fight pollution and preserve people’s health. This has become the most contentious part of the action surrounding the EPA announcement — with most of the criticism coming from the U.S. One group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has gone as far as to threaten a lawsuit against the EPA for damaging the free market.
Those opposing bills designed to reduce carbon emissions — including the majority of Republicans and many moderate Democrats in Congress — are furious that president Barack Obama has taken the reigns back from the legislature on this issue. Some argue that Congress rightfully balked on passing the Kerry-Boxer climate bill (which would set ambitious carbon reduction targets) this year because it would have hurt the already ailing economy too much. The White House is neglecting these concerns, they say.
By airing the endangerment ruling on the world stage in Denmark, the White House is essentially running away with the cake, critics claim. It will build global political support for carbon reductions, and use the momentum to enter into a binding agreement with other countries at the summit without hearing what Americans have to say.
But neither Obama nor Jackson have clarified the role the U.S. will ultimately play in the Copenhagen talks. It’s clear that both are in favor of a treaty that would set new carbon quotas, while supporting developing countries that may have a harder time complying. But whether the U.S. will avidly pursue such a deal, in the face of increasingly virulent opposition, is unknown. We might have to wait for the president’s appearance in Denmark on Dec. 18 to find out.
One thing’s for certain — the U.S. already has a stronger presence at the summit than was widely predicted. Many of the other delegates have been enthusiastic about the show of force, relieved that America didn’t show up empty handed even though the climate bill remains tied up in the Senate. That could have thrown any chance of a productive treaty out the window, U.N. officials said.