EPA CO2 Endangerment Under Trial To Prevent Cap-And-Trade

Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by Ross in Climate Change, North America

In a move designed to ease the pressure on US Senators to pass the cap-and-trade system within restrictive climate change legislation, the Chamber of Commerce recently launched a blind-side against one of the key driving factors behind the new bill: the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)’s endangerment finding regarding carbon dioxide.

April 2009 saw the publicly release of the EPA’s proposed carbon dioxide endangerment findings on whether it posed a health and welfare threat to the American people. The EPA’s conclusion: carbon dioxide posed a health hazard, and the emissions of the gas should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The move sent a clear signal to the US Congress and Senate: push through your proposed cap-and-trade legislation and take control of the issue properly, or we’ll regulate carbon dioxide instead.

Fearful of the effect that EPA regulation of carbon emissions would have on US business, the endangerment finding spurred US politicians to move faster on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which proposes a cap-and-trade scheme to regulate the emissions of businesses and public bodies. Many on Capitol Hill believe that option to be preferable to high profile corporate fines issued by the EPA, with the risk of turning carbon emissions into a witch-hunt.

The Chamber of Commerce therefore launched an attack on the EPA’s endangerment finding in order to remove some of the incentive for Senators to pass the bill waiting to be debated after the healthcare reforms. They called for a full public trial of the scientific evidence supporting climate change and the EPA’s findings, including a full jury and a judge.

By pinning their hopes on the inability of a jury to decisively conclude in favour of scientific evidence behind the dangers of climate change, the Chamber believed that the climate change bill would falter and either be watered down further or scrapped entirely.

The move caused a media storm, and Chamber VP William Kovachs was quickly forced to back-pedal on the language used in the intial call for the trial, but the Chamber of Commerce is still demanding an on-the-record hearing on the evidence, intending to play on understandable scientific uncertainties and ignore the overwhelming body of scientific evidence which shows that climate change is a reality. The burden of proof, however, lies with the EPA.

Image by Brian Kusler @ Flickr