EPA Rejects Challenges To Regulating Carbon Dioxide Emissions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rejected 10 petitions challenging its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, declaring that human activities are warming the planet and that, despite rising criticism from skeptics, “climate science is credible, compelling and growing stronger.” In a strongly worded letter, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said she disagreed with the contention that recent high-profile controversies over climate science — including errors in the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the leaked “Climategate” emails — have undermined the credibility of climate science. The criticisms, which she said are rooted in “selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy,” have not given the EPA reason to reconsider its 2009 determination that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and should be regulated. Jackson’s letter gave no indication that she intends to back down from her pledge to regulate CO2 emissions from major sources, such as coal-fired power plants. Unilateral action by the EPA has taken on increased importance following failed efforts to pass a climate bill in the U.S. Senate.