CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMIT UNDERWAY, EPA FINDS GREENHOUSE GASES HARMFUL

News Date December 08, 2009

With the opening of talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, and a major regulatory announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the world’s focus is on climate change.  Even though the summit is no longer expected to yield binding agreements, many are hopeful for effective negotiations that will ultimately lay the groundwork for commitments during talks in 2010.  Leaders from all over the world are assembled for the conference, including President Barack Obama, who will be arriving late next week.  During the summit, there will be direct discussions related to the potential impacts and solutions for agriculture, which will include California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signaled their intentions to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the authority granted to them by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007).  In that decision, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases, particularly from motor vehicles, were under the purview of the Clean Air Act (CAA), and that it was the role of the EPA Administrator to determine if these emissions were a threat to public health and welfare under section 202(a) of the CAA.  On December 7, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed the endangerment and cause or contribute findings for GHGs.  

“These long-overdue findings cement 2009’s place in history as the year when the United States Government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Business leaders, security experts, government officials, concerned citizens and the United States Supreme Court have called for enduring, pragmatic solutions to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution that is causing climate change. This continues our work towards clean energy reform that will cut GHGs and reduce the dependence on foreign oil that threatens our national security and our economy.”

Being a prerequisite for proposed GHG standards for light-duty vehicles, these findings will not directly impose requirements on certain industries, including agriculture.   However, many critics believe this decision could lead to further-reaching actions from the EPA.  In a released statement, American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman discusses these concerns.  “We realize the EPA’s stated intention is to focus this finding narrowly on specific industries, using particular thresholds, but we believe there is no protection in the provisions that prevent them from being applied broadly across all sectors, including farm and ranch families who produce livestock.”  (Contact: David Hickey)