Change in the air

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

The Obama administration, vowing to take a more aggressive role in the battle to reverse global warming, is off to a good start by signaling its intent to consider regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Under President George W. Bush, the Environmental Protection Agency did not take advantage of a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the EPA to regulate those emissions under the Clean Air Act. That was no surprise because Bush was no friend of the environment.

But Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator selected by President Barack Obama, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that her agency is moving toward regulating the emissions that contribute to global warming.

“We are going to be making a fairly significant finding about what these gases mean for public health and the welfare of our country,” Jackson said.

We welcome that progressive attitude and encourage the EPA to regulate those emissions before they do any further damage to the air we breathe.

As reported separately Wednesday by The Washington Post, Jackson’s decision to review the applicability of the Clean Air Act to emissions from coal-fired plants could pose problems for LS Power Group of New Jersey, which plans to build a 1,590-megawatt plant near Ely. If the EPA chooses to regulate carbon dioxide before LS Power obtains an air pollution permit from the state, it could force the company to adhere to new emission standards to build the plant.

From an environmental perspective, that is the kind of change we would like to see.