EPA Declares Greenhouse Gases Dangerous To Public Health

In what appears to be a perfectly-timed, preemptive move to boost US credibility in Copenhagen, the Environmental Protection Agency today embraced the scientific recommendations of a Bush Administration panel and declared greenhouse gases a danger to human health.

During the Bush Administration, the EPA refused to follow the recommendation of its own scientists.

 via Flickr’s Sizemore PhotographyThe EPA said that the scientific evidence surrounding climate change clearly shows that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of the American people” and that the pollutants – mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels – should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

“These long-overdue findings cement 2009’s place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at news conference.

The action has been expected since last April 2009, when the EPA signalled that it was inclined to follow the recommendations of the Bush Panel. Anne  via Huffington Post

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