The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made big news over the weekend when the White House announced that EPA had sent to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed finding that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases endanger human health and the environment and, therefore, must be regulated as pollutants under the Clean Air Act (CAA).  EPA’s proposed finding is in response to the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA.  Many observers believe that EPA will issue a final finding on April 2, the two-year anniversary of the Massachusetts decision.

While many observers are questioning the extent to which an endangerment finding would lead either to massive new regulation by EPA of the domestic economy, others contend that such a finding represents only an incremental expansion of EPA’s regulatory reach.  ClimateIntel looks at certain regulatory actions that could flow from an endangerment finding and on likely real world consequences of those regulatory actions.

In a multi-part series debuting today, ClimateIntel’s Paul Gutermann and Colin Campbell of RTP Environmental Associates in Raleigh, NC, will examine the implications of regulating carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a pollutant under the CAA’s New Source Review program.  The series will focus on issues relating to implementation of Best Available Control Technology for CO₂.

For further information about this topic, please contact Akin Gump.