As ClimateWire reported (available via nytimes.com) the other week, government agencies are struggling with how to fit climate change into the process of environmental review (such as for licensing energy facilities or expanding offshore oil drilling). At one level, this is a no-brainer. Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change, and climate change is the biggest environmental impact of all. But as always, the devil is in the details. The direct use of fossil fuels resulting from a project should usually be easy to figure out. Adding the "embodied carbon" in construction materials is a bit trickier. Going beyond that, there are indirect carbon impacts. For instance, a federal action that decreases soybean acreage in the United States could raise the price of soybeans and encourage farmers in Brazil to cut down rain forest in order to plant more beans. There's also the question of when a climate impact becomes "significant," which is the trigger under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for a full-scale environmental impact statement. From one perspective, almost nothing is significant when measured against total global greenhouse gas emissions. But that's the wrong perspective. Full text
Today, EPA gave notice that it intends to regulate greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act. Technically, the notice is a proposed finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. When it becomes final after EPA has had a chance to consider public comments, this finding will trigger other regulatory requirements that will move the U.S. in the right direction. EPA's announcement is an important landmark, because it is an unambiguous acknowledgment -- finally -- that the federal government must play a role in curbing global warming. Perhaps more important, it will add critical momentum to congressional efforts to pass climate change legislation, because it effectively eliminates any hope that industry had of avoiding regulation of carbon emissions altogether. Opponents now know that if they delay or defeat climate change legislation, they'll eventually face regulation from EPA. That ought to focus the debate. Full text