Collective Conscious

Here’s the quick and dirty.

Lisa Jack­son Statement

• 2007 — US Supreme Court rules that Clean Air Act includes green­house gases.
• Now, EPA has final­ized its green­house gas endan­ger­ment find­ing. EPA is oblig­ated to reduce those pollutants.
• Estab­lished nation­wide green­house gas emis­sions report­ing sys­tem this year.
• Emis­sions data will be pub­lic by 2011.
• Cre­at­ing legal foun­da­tion for a “Green Cars Program.”
• Emis­sions lim­its for Amer­i­can vehi­cles and large emit­ting facilities.
• Facil­i­ties will need best avail­able tech­nol­ogy for new and expanded operations.
• No undue bur­den on businesses.
• Want to pass a bill.
• This is a clear demon­stra­tion of our com­mit­ment in advance of Copen­hagen talks.

Ques­tions Segment

• Does this pre­empt state action?
  • State action has been crit­i­cal so far.
• What about the hacked emails?
  • Noth­ing in the emails under­mines the sci­ence. The for­mal deci­sion includes responses to the under­ly­ing science.
• Is this action under the Clean Air Act or a new rule?
  • EPA has pro­posed a new rule for large emit­ters under the Clean Air Act.
  • EPA will develop tech­ni­cal guidance.
• What about leg­isla­tive solutions?
  • Leg­is­la­tion would be the best, com­pre­hen­sive solution.
  • The Clean Air Act is a both/​and solu­tion with leg­is­la­tion, not an either/​or.
• National ambi­ent air qual­ity standards?
  • Noth­ing requires reg­u­la­tory action yet, but we will review the petition.
• Will this push mem­bers of con­gress who are on the fence to work on a bill?
  • No, EPA is fol­low­ing its own man­date to deal with pollution.
  • Also, we want use the find­ing to for­mally release EPA’s cli­mate data.
• When will sta­tion­ary source rules be released?
  • No future sched­ule pre­pared yet.
• Is it pos­si­ble that EPA issues rules before a Sen­ate vote?
  • When sen­a­tors look at EPA’s rules, they will have the ben­e­fit of the new report­ing and expe­ri­ence from EPA’s actions.
• Any idea when the ear­li­est exist­ing power plants rule could be proposed?
  • No info on schedule.
• And why the find­ing sep­a­rate from the rule, which is unusual?
  • Endan­ger­ment find­ing in this case is an impor­tant step in its on right. EPA must keep the ball mov­ing on cli­mate change.

Key Take­aways

• Admin­is­tra­tor Jack­son avoided refer­ring to CO₂ explic­itly. This could be an indi­ca­tor that EPA will pur­sue other known green­house gases – includ­ing methane or nitrous oxide.
• Exist­ing pol­lut­ing facil­i­ties will not be sub­jected to any new reg­u­la­tion for some time.
• The EPA will use this find­ing to pur­sue reg­u­la­tion for auto­mo­biles and other mobile sources of green­house pol­lu­tants by such meth­ods as emis­sion stan­dards and fur­ther fuel reg­u­la­tion.
• EPA may pur­sue reg­u­la­tion regard­less of leg­isla­tive action.