U.S. EPA declares CO2 a “threat to public health”
Friday, April 17th, 2009The decision today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to call CO2 and several other greenhouse gases a “threat to public health and welfare” sets the stage for more aggressive climate-change regulations to come out of the United States. Based on the EPA position, it’s now legally recognized that the CO2 that comes out of your car’s tailpipe, out of the oil sands, out of power plants, etc… is a contributor to global warming and bad for humanity.
How quickly things change under a new U.S. Administration. Cap-and-trade, renewable portfolio standards, national low-carbon standards — they’re all on their way. Something worth celebrating as Earth Day approaches…
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca