E.P.A. Sets Carbon Crackdown

From the New York Times Blogs:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday will finalize its determination that greenhouse gases pose a danger to human health and the environment, paving the way for regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories refineries and other major sources.

The move gives President Obama a significant tool to combat the gases blamed for the heating of the planet even while Congress remains stalled on economy-wide global warming legislation.

The E.P.A. finding also will allow Mr. Obama to tell delegates at the United Nations climate change conference that began today in Copenhagen that the United States is moving aggressively to address the problem.

E.P.A. Administrator Lisa P. Jackson is expected to announce the step at a news conference this afternoon in Washington.

UPDATE:

(AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded greenhouse gases are endangering people's health and must be regulated, signaling that the Obama administration is prepared to contain global warming without congressional action if necessary.

THIS IS ECO-FASCISM.

This is every bit as bad as Chavez nationalizing banks.

Obama is attempting to control every part of the economy with this ruling.

Every business of any size is dependent upon cars, trains, planes, and ships to move its goods.

There are no businesses in the nation which do not emit CO2 as the result of their endeavors.

MORE from the Wall Street Journal:

Business Fumes Over Carbon Dioxide Rule

An "endangerment" finding by the Environmental Protection Agency could pave the way for the government to require businesses that emit carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases to make costly changes in machinery to reduce emissions -- even if Congress doesn't pass pending climate-change legislation. EPA action to regulate emissions could affect the U.S. economy more directly, and more quickly, than any global deal inked in the Danish capital, where no binding agreement is expected.

An EPA endangerment finding "could result in a top-down command-and-control regime that will choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project," U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said in a statement.