Even criticsof President Obama would have to admit that America now has anambitious, smart leader at the helm who is not afraid of takingproblems and issues head-on. After all,the Obama Administration has acted quickly to resuscitate a gravely illeconomy while at the same time continues to deftly prosecute atwo-front war against terrorism. Obama also fights pirates off Somalia,has begun taking steps to reform our broken healthcare system and, oh,yes, told the CEO's in Detroit to get off their overstuffed duffs andbegin producing cars that Americans actually want to buy.
Finally,this president has reorganized an Environmental Protection Agency that... wait for it ... actually now acknowledges that global warming iskilling our planet. Talk about a 'no-duh' moment. Still, therecent 180-degree turn the EPA recently should be applauded. Instead offollowing the Bush Administration doctrine that for years resisted thefindings of the planet's best scientific minds, the EPA issued a"proposed" finding that, yes, greenhouse gases are endangering thepublic health and welfare. For many GoldenState politicians and officials who have beating their heads against aheretofore intransigent EPA, the announcement was pleasing.
"After years of inexcusable neglect under the Bush Administration, theEPA has taken the first concrete step toward curbing global warming bymaking a preliminary determination that greenhouse gases endangerpublic health or welfare," Attorney General Jerry Brown said in astatement. "This proposed endangerment determination opens the door tothe first serious national effort to reduce greenhouse gases."
This proposed determination stems from the Supreme Court's decision inMassachusetts v. EPA -- a case in which the Golden State was a leadplaintiff -- which required EPA to determine whether the greenhouse gasemissions that lead to global warming "may reasonably be anticipated toendanger public health or welfare."
The Bush Administration refused to comply with the court's order tomake such a determination. The EPA under Obama has now done just theopposite.
U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) joined with others in validating the significance of the policy reversal.
"(Friday's)decision by the Obama Administration to recognize the danger to thepublic's health and welfare posed by global warming emissions iswelcome news. Indeed, the Supreme Court two years ago directed the EPAto determine whether global warming emissions from vehicles should bereduced pursuant to the Clean Air Act. The science of global warmingcan no longer be ignored and we cannot afford to delay action anylonger," Capps said.
Nowthat the EPA has taken the leap of acknowledging that global warming isactually happening, the agency has also quickly proposed moving aheadwith the creation of a national greenhouse gas emission registry thatwill enable the government to better manage the crisis.
California's two U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, were the lead authors of a provision that provided $3.5 million to the EPA to establish the registry by June 26, 2009. The measure was signed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act.
According to EPA, approximately 85 to 90 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gasemissions, from approximately 13,000 facilities, would be covered bythe proposed rule. The reporting requirements generally would apply tofacilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
"President Obama, in his first budget proposal, has laid out a framework for an economy-wide cap-and-trade system to curb our nation's emissions, designedto take effect in 2012. But before we can implement the President'sproposal or any other cap-and-trade system, we need accurate reportingdata on all major facilities that emit greenhouse gas emissions - and that is exactly what this registry would provide," said Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment. "I applaud EPA Administrator (Lisa P.) Jackson for taking this first important step in the fight against global warming."
Follow Jeff Mitchell's political blog at BAPolitix.org