Barack,
Why not direct federal departments and agencies to start reducing emissions for each type of pollutant now, such as 10% cuts annually for each greenhouse gas and larger cuts for soot, mercury, etc.
And why not direct states to each make the same cuts. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could monitor progress by states; where a state looks set to miss one or more targets, the EPA could step in by imposing federal fees on applicable polluting products sold in the respective state, with revenues used for federal projects that do reduce pollution.
As the Supreme Court confirmed, greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act, and the EPA has the statutory authority to regulate such emissions.
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1120.pdf
Similarly, greenhouse gases are water pollutants and should be acted upon under the Clean Water Act.
The EPA has the authority and the duty to act. Surely, by deciding to share some of this authority and duty with states, the EPA does not overstep its authority. It can and it should do so on condition that states take effective action; such delegation should be withdrawn where states fail to make progress, in which case the duty to act reverts back to the EPA.
Sam Carana
Post by Sam Carana.
