White-Out House

White House tries to keep EPA from showing how greenhouse gases could be regulated

Posted at 12:29 PM on 30 Jun 2008

The White House is trying to block the U.S. EPA from releasing a document that shows how the Clean Air Act could be used to regulate greenhouse gases, reports The Wall Street Journal. The draft document, a formal response to a Supreme Court decision that greenhouse gases are pollutants and can thus be regulated under the Clean Air Act, must be OK'd by the White House before the EPA can release it. But White House officials have asked that the EPA delete references to greenhouse-gas emissions endangering public welfare (which would legally allow them to be regulated); how they could be regulated (the document suggests a cap-and-trade system similar to those in place for acid rain and mercury); and the cost of such regulation (according to the document, "The net benefit to society could be in excess of $2 trillion."). In effect, says one source, White House officials want the document to instead demonstrate that "the Clean Air Act is broken and can't be used to regulate emissions."

source:  The Wall Street Journal
see also, in Muckraker:  White House refuses to open email about regulating greenhouse gases, Select Committee acquires documents related to EPA's proposals for rulemaking on auto emissions