USEPA Makes Final Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act

On December 7, 2009, United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) Administrator Lisa Jackson finalized two distinct findings regarding greenhouse gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act. The first finding, termed the “Endangerment Finding,” finds that the current and projected concentrations of six greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations. The six named greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆). The second finding, termed the “Cause or Contribute Finding” finds that the combined emissions of these six greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution which threatens public health and welfare. These findings do not themselves impose any requirements on industry or other entities.

 

These findings will be published in the Federal Register under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0171.  A pre-publication version of these findings can be found at www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment/downloads/FinalFindings.pdf.

 

Technical analyses developed by the USEPA in support of the Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act may be found at www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment/downloads/Endangerment%20TSD.pdf.

 

On April 17, 2009, the Administrator signed proposed endangerment and cause or contribute findings for greenhouse gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act.  USEPA held a 60-day public comment period, which ended June 23, 2009, and received over 380,000 public comments.  These included both written comments as well as testimony at two public hearings in Arlington, Virginia and Seattle, Washington. USEPA’s response to the public comments it received can be found at www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html.

 

This article was co-authored by Kevin McGuire and Mary Beth Naumann, Jackson Kelly PLLC. For more information on the authors see (McGuire) here and (Naumann) here.