EPA Sends Final GHG Endangerment Finding to White House OMB

EPA sent its final endangerment finding for GHGs to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review in a move that could strengthen the hand of the U.S. in international climate-change negotiations next month in Copenhagen, E&E News PM reported.

EPA said in a statement: "EPA has submitted the GHG endangerment and cause or contribute findings to OMB for interagency review. This is the next step in the regulatory process. Nothing has been finalized at this point, and the April 2009 proposed findings are still just that--proposed and being reviewed through the regulatory process."

Speculation was that the Obama administration would try to release the final finding before the December talks. Former EPA General Counsel Roger Martella, who served in the George W. Bush administration, said that "by finalizing the endangerment determination now, the administration can say it has committed itself to taking the necessary steps to address greenhouse gases under the existing Clean Air Act." He added: "The endangerment determination does not complete that path to greenhouse gas regulation by itself or compel any particular limitation -- it is merely the legal prerequisite for EPA to finalize the first regulation actually controlling and limiting greenhouse gases next spring from automobiles."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs stressed that the president was committed to controlling GHG emissions with a cap-and-trade bill. He was quoted as saying: "The president has said throughout this process that the way to deal with this is through legislation. That's what we're trying to do and that's what we hope to do."

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., ranking Republican on the Environment & Public Works Committee, was quoted as saying: "President Obama pledged that he will 'not rest until all Americans who want work can find work.' And I look forward to working with his administration to protect existing American jobs and to create new ones by preventing EPA from imposing new mandates on thousands of small businesses."