Over the past three decades Congress not only has never passed any legislation toregulateclimate change, but has specifically rejected legislation to give EPA the authority which it now claims.
Responding to a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Ms. Jackson has invoked the Clean Air Act toregulate carbon dioxide and other gases linked toclimate change.
The endangerment finding gave EPA the power toregulate those gases even if Congress failed to pass laws to address climate change which Congress subsequently failed to do.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has scrapped its efforts to push a climate bill through Congress, and is now mulling plans for the EPA toregulate CO2 emissions via the Clean Air Act.
Thanks tothe Kyoto treaty on climate change, which came into effect in February, most rich countries regulate emissions of carbon dioxide in some manner.