The latest environmental news out of Washington is exactly the reason why most Americans are frustrated with government.
And whether you’re a Democrat, Republican or Independent – it really doesn’t matter. The Greenhouse Gas Problem isn’t a partisan issue – it’s a milestone event in the history of mankind that requires immediate action. All one has to do is get behind a polluting car that’s emitting who knows what out of their tailpipe to understand that this stuff is unhealthy. And that’s just the beginning. So what happened in Washington this week? The Bush administration says it can’t regulate greenhouse-gas emissions — “but somebody else is welcome to try.” Wow, how’s that for leadership? Unbelievable.
Who else isn’t stepping up to the plate? Congress and the EPA.
In 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the EPA to determine how to regulate GHG emissions under the existing Clean Air Act. So, the EPA went to work. This week, Stephen Johnson of the EPA released the agency’s 1,000-plus page report on how best to tackle GHG emissions.
Mr. Johnson told reporters that the Clean Air Act is “ill-suited for the task of regulating greenhouse-gas emissions and that it would take decades, with a convoluted set of regulations…if the U.S. is serious [about tackling GHG emissions] the Clean Air Act is the wrong tool for the job.”
They think Congress should take it on. The EPA boss said Congress must draft comprehensive legislation that avoids the regulatory and litigation pitfalls of trying to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions on a case-by-case basis from within the EPA.
The White House had strong disagreement with many of the legal, analytical, economic, science and policy interpretations in the draft. Friday, a federal court struck down a signature piece of the Bush administration’s environmental policy—a requirement for power plants to cut emissions of pollutants like sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-dioxide. Power companies had sued to overturn the law.
The EPA thinks it would face the same fate if it tried to regulate GHG emissions. Perhaps it’s going to take a few courageous and sensible judges, along with a handful of brave leaders to start moving the GHG and global warming agenda forward. But don’t count on it – at least for now.
Unfortunately as Washington passes the Greenhouse Gas Hot Potato, we all sit and wait. The tax dollars that we all contributed to help fix the problems that affect everyone go to things outside the nation’s borders. Looks like it’s going to take a concerted effort on the part of the private sector to take leadership and responsibility for greenhouse gas. Perhaps if every company was required to use environmental compliance software, they could see just how much they were emitting – and how much they could save by transitioning to alternative energy sources. It really is…just a matter of time. | 
