EPA cleared to regulate U.S. emissions as Congress stalls

The agency could begin to make rules as soon as next year to regulate emissions from vehicle tailpipes, power utilities and heavy industry under existing laws.

Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress will still pursue legislation in Congress, which has been slow to act. But the EPA move gave a timely push to the president's aims of securing short-term limits to harmful emissions.

It was expected to inject some optimism into the two-week United Nations meeting in Copenhagen, which Obama is due to attend next week, but was criticized by some U.S. business groups who fear it could push up costs. “EPA has finalized its endangerment finding on greenhouse gas pollution and is now authorized and obligated to make reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants,” said Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator. “This administration will not ignore science or the law any longer.”

The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA had the right to regulate emissions of the gases under the Clean Air Act. But under the administration of former President George W. Bush, the EPA said Congress was the right place to frame action.

Business groups said the EPA announcement would hurt the economy and endanger jobs just as the country emerges from a deep recession.

Legislation by Congress would be more palatable politically for Obama, because it would represent a compromise between business, politicians and other interests rather than through an imposed ruling.

Stronger Hand In Copenhagen

The EPA ruling applies to six gases scientists say contribute to global warming, including the main one, carbon dioxide.

There had been fears that Obama, who has made fighting climate change one of his priorities, would arrive almost empty handed at the U.N. conference because climate legislation has stalled in Congress.

“The EPA move strengthens Obama's hand at Copenhagen,” said Joe Mendelson, global warming policy director at the National Wildlife Federation. “It gives him additional authority that if Congress doesn't pass climate legislation, the agency can put the country on the path to meet his climate goals.”

Obama will pledge at Copenhagen that the United States, the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will cut emissions by roughly 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

World leaders hope to reach an agreement at the meeting on getting rich and developing countries to share the burden in fighting climate change.

The climate bill has been delayed in the U.S. Senate by a debate over a sweeping reform of healthcare, but lawmakers hope to pass a bill in the spring. Climate legislation passed narrowly in the House of Representatives in June.

The Obama administration has always said it prefers legislation over action by the EPA.

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