Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, seen here in July. The EPA said that Jackson, its chief, would make a "significant climate announcement" at 1:15 pm (1815 GMT) without further details.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Brendan Hoffman)
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government said Monday it would start to regulate carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant, sidestepping a divided Congress to give momentum to global climate talks in Copenhagen.
The decision paves the way for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue standards on how much carbon US factories, buildings and cars can emit, even without legislation in Congress.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed orders declaring six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, blamed for global warming to be pollutants that are subject to government regulation.
The EPA "is now authorized and obligated to make reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants," Jackson told a news conference.
"It means that we arrive at the climate talks in Copenhagen with a clear demonstration of our commitment to facing this global challenge," she said.
Jackson said the ruling would have only one immediate effect -- the United States would finalize its first nationwide carbon emission standards on light trucks.
But it gives President Barack Obama, who heads to the 192-nation summit in Copenhagen next week, powerful new leverage to meet US pledges on emissions even if his critics in Congress derail legislation.
The EPA ruling is the culmination of government studies since April 2007, when five of the nine judges on the Supreme Court agreed that carbon dioxide was a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
"It's a signal from the administration heading into Copenhagen that, look, we've got things going on in Congress but we're also not going to wait for them," said Joe Mendelson, the global warming policy director for the National Wildlife Federation who worked on the Supreme Court case.
But the move has already faced fierce resistance by business leaders and many lawmakers of the rival Republican Party.
The US Chamber of Commerce, the nation's top business lobby, feared that businesses would be subject to a host of new regulations at a time of economic uncertainty.
Thomas Donohue, the chamber's president, said that the EPA threatened to "choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently backed down on one of the country's most far-reaching plans, in which owners of large buildings would have to undergo audits and pick up costs to make them more energy-efficient.
Key Republicans have also pointed to recent leaked emails from prominent climate scientists that they say call into question the basis behind action on global warming.
"It is unconscionable that unelected bureaucrats at the EPA have declared carbon dioxide a public danger despite a lack of scientific evidence to support their ruling," said Governor Rick Perry of Texas.
"Today's ruling continues a pattern of aggressive federal encroachment into every farm, business, church and household in America" under Obama, he said.
But another Republican governor -- Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, which has been at the forefront of fighting global warming -- hailed Obama for turning climate action into a national rather than state priority.
"Climate change is real and it is welcome news to see that the US EPA is taking its head out of the sand," Schwarzenegger said.
Climate scientists behind the leaked emails said that their remarks were taken out of context -- assertions backed by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
"I think that this notion that there is some debate," Gibbs said, "on the science is kind of silly."
The House of Representatives in June narrowly approved legislation to set up the first US nationwide "cap-and-trade" system -- similar to a plan in Europe that restricts emissions but offers businesses an economic incentive by allowing trading in credits.
Both Jackson and congressional leaders said they still preferred a cap-and-trade system, as it would affect the entire economy.
"The message to Congress is crystal clear: get moving," said Senator John Kerry, an author of the legislation.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.
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