Carbon Dioxide

While Congress is debating cap-and-trade legislation to deal with climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency weighed in with their ruling that may have a profound impact on the debate. The EPA published what is called an “endangerment finding” stating that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant that threatens the public and therefore must be regulated under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

So what is wrong with that? First, the EPA has granted to itself unprecedented power. This finding gives the agency power to impose taxes and regulations across the economy. This was done without any legislative input from our elected representatives. So it is effectively “taxation without representation.” That’s a catchy phrase, I wonder where I’ve heard that before?

Second, the EPA’s ruling changes the meaning and intent of the Clean Air Act. Just ask Representative John Dingell (D-MI) who helped write the original act as well as the 1990 revision. He says that the act never was intended to apply to carbon. The major reason for the EPA’s action was a ruling two years ago by five Supreme Court justices calling for the EPA to determine if carbon dioxide qualifies as a pollutant.

Finally, someone needs to say the obvious. So I will say it. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It is a trace gas that is essential for all plant life to exist. And since plants and vegetation are at the bottom of the food chain, it’s not really a stretch to say that all of life is ultimately dependent upon there being carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Perhaps it would be helpful to put a few facts on the table. Has carbon dioxide concentration increased? Yes, in the last 150 years, carbon dioxide concentrations have risen from 280 to nearly 380 parts per million. But it is also worth noting that the oceans emit about 96 percent of all greenhouse gases.

When you look at the scientific facts as well as the legislative history of the Clean Air Act, it is hard to justify the EPA’s decision to classify carbon dioxide as a pollutant. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.