Friday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson officially determined that global warming pollution “endangers” the nation’s human health and well-being.
The “endangerment finding,” as we enviros call it, was required by the Supreme Court during Massachusetts v. EPA, a landmark victory that rejected the Bush EPA’s laundry list of reasons not to address global warming pollution under the federal Clean Air Act.
Since that victory in April of 2007, we have been waiting for the EPA to “determine” what scientists have known for years: that global warming pollution is a danger to America’s health and well-being.
This EPA finding, coupled with the American Clean Energy and Security Act moving out of Chairman Henry Waxman’s committee by Memorial Day, offers us a glimpse at the finish line.
While the determination does not establish national emission standards for the main culprits of carbon pollution, the EPA will begin developing these standards while it finalizes the “endangerment” determination.
See our overview of the case for more about the twists and turns on the road to this determination.
