WSJ: Congressional Democrats Off the Hook on Climate Change

An op-ed by Kimberly A. Strassel published by the Wall Street Journal today said the Obama administration has made a strategic error in having EPA issue an endangerment finding for CO2 because the president has now lost his most powerful threat to prompt Congress to get climate-change legislation passed. Wrote Strassel: "From the start, the Obama team has wielded the EPA action as a club, warning Congress that if it did not come up with cap-and-trade legislation the EPA would act on its own--and in a far more blunt fashion than Congress preferred. President Obama, having failed to get climate legislation, didn't want to show up to the Copenhagen climate talks with a big, fat nothing. So the EPA pulled the pin. In doing so, it exploded its own threat."

The response has been relief within the Democratic Congress because the Congress's problem has become the president's problem. Wrote Strassel: "No one can say Washington isn't doing something; the EPA has it under control. The agency's move gives Congress a further excuse not to act." Taking into account the inevitable, and likely massive, litigation instigated by business groups, any enforceable climate-change policy could be a long way off. Added Strassel: "Industry groups are gearing up for a legal onslaught; and don't underestimate their prospects. The leaked emails from the Climatic Research Unit in England alone are a gold mine for those who want to challenge the science underlying the theory of manmade global warming." EPA could also have a hard time proving that a warmer earth would indeed harm humans, and the EPA's stand (the "tailoring rule") that it would regulate only large GHG emitters could violate the Clean Air Act itself.

She concluded: "Bottom line: At least some congressional Democrats view this as breathing room, a further reason to not tackle a killer issue in the run-up to next year's election. Mr. Obama may emerge from Copenhagen with some sort of 'deal.' But his real problem is getting Congress to act, and his EPA move may have just made that job harder."