Editorial: EPA asleep at the wheel

Monday, Dec. 4, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

The Bush administration is making the absurd claim that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from new automobiles.

By making this claim, the administration is distancing itself from any involvement in one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time - global warming.

Acting like a blanket that traps heat before it escapes, greenhouse gases are essential to all life on Earth. But add too many blankets, and the heat becomes too much. Whereas dozens of quilts would make a person too hot, additional greenhouse gases from unnatural sources such as automobiles and power plants make the Earth too hot.

This results in events that cause chain reactions, such as melting polar caps that raise the sea level that overtakes shorelines. Or in early springs that melt mountain snow too fast, causing water to evaporate before it can flow into reservoirs that serve populated areas.

There is little dispute among scientists that human actions - our millions of cars and thousands of power plants - are leading to an unnatural warming of the Earth, causing climate changes that, over time, will endanger all life.

Yet the EPA, under President Bush's stewardship, argues that global warming has not yet been proved and therefore greenhouse gases are not "pollutants" covered under the Clean Air Act. Clearly, this argument is spurious, put forth only to protect car manufacturers and power plants from regulations that would force them to expend more time and money in researching cleaner technologies.

On Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments that the EPA is obligated under federal law to reverse this stance. The arguments were put forth by a coalition of 12 states, led by Massachusetts, and several cities and environmental groups.

The coalition had to defend its right, or "standing," to bring such a case, in response to conservative justices who asked how they had been harmed by global warming. Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General James Milkey, arguing for the coalition, cited a 200-mile stretch of coastline in his state that is threatened by the rising waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The EPA is forsaking its duty by allowing Bush's political outlook to influence its scientific obligations. We hope when the court makes its decision next year, it will have acknowledged that global warming obviously threatens states and cities, rendering it an issue for federal oversight and regulation.