On April 2nd, the EPA finally woke up and proposed a ruling stating that greenhouse gases are a public threat. Nahhh! Where have they been these past ten years while scientists have documented again and again the effects of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride - to name a few, on human, plant and animal life?
Am I alone in believing this action is long overdue?
From the content of the ruling:
The Administrator signed a proposal with two distinct findings regarding greenhouse gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act:
- The Administrator is proposing to find that the current and projected concentrations of the mix of six key greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations. This is referred to as the endangerment finding.
- The Administrator is further proposing to find that the combined emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O, and HFCs from new motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines contribute to the atmospheric concentrations of these key greenhouse gases and hence to the threat of climate change. This is referred to as the cause or contribute finding.
Today’s proposed action, as well as any final action in the future, would not itself impose any requirements on industry or other entities. An endangerment finding under one provision of the Clean Air Act would not by itself automatically trigger regulation under the entire Act.
This last paragraph confuses me - why do a ruling if it will not create any requirements or sanctions? It is my not-so-humble opinion that if there WERE sanctions, auto makers would have already put the best engineering minds to work such that we would all NOW be driving vehicles with zero greenhouse gas emissions. As a side benefit, we would also no longer be dependent on people halfway across the world who hate us and would love to see us wiped off the face of the earth.
The ruling does go on to state that the climate changes resulting from increased greenhouse gas emissions have serious national security implications. Hopefully this phrase will grab the attention of lawmakers, and something will be done about adding some regulations with teeth.
In my opinion, this ruling is just stating at length and in legal language something that most intelligent people have known for years - we are in deep doo doo and we needed to do something about it yesterday.
Those who think nothing can be done are insulting the collective intelligence of the world's science and engineering community - WE are who own this problem and we will find creative, new ways to solve it.
