By Deborah Zabarenko and Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration opened the way for regulating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions on Friday by declaring climate-warming pollution a danger to human health and welfare.
Environmental activists and their supporters in Congress were jubilant and industry groups were wary at the news of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's move. The White House said President Barack Obama would prefer legislation rather than administrative action to curb greenhouse emissions.
Congress is already considering a bill to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, one of six major greenhouse gases.
In its document, the EPA said, "greenhouse gases in the atmosphere endanger the public health and welfare of current and future generations" and human activities spur global warming.
"This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "Fortunately, it follows President Obama's call for a low carbon economy and strong leadership in Congress on clean energy and climate legislation,"
"The president has made clear his strong preference that Congress act to pass comprehensive legislation rather than address the climate challenge through administrative action," a White House official said, noting that Obama has repeatedly called for "a bill to provide for market-based solutions to reduce carbon pollution."
The EPA's endangerment finding said high atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases "are the unambiguous result of human emissions, and are very likely the cause of the observed increase in average temperatures and other climatic changes." The document is available online at www.epa.gov.
The EPA's finding is essential for the U.S. government to regulate climate-warming emissions like carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act. Regulation is not automatically triggered by the finding -- there will be a 60-day comment period.
But as that period proceeds, legislation is moving through Congress aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions with a cap-and-trade system, which would let those companies that emit more than the limit trade with those that emit less.
MAJOR SHIFT FROM BUSH
EPA scientists last year offered evidence of the health hazards of greenhouse emissions, but the Bush administration took no action. It opposed across-the-board mandatory regulation of climate-warming pollution, saying it would hurt the U.S. economy.
Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who shepherded climate legislation to the Senate floor last year, called the EPA's finding "long overdue."
"We have lost eight years in this fight," Boxer said in a statement. "... The best and most flexible way to deal with this serious problem is to enact a market-based cap-and-trade system which will help us make the transition to clean energy and will bring us innovation and strong economic growth."
"At long last, EPA is officially recognizing that carbon pollution is leading to killer heat waves, stronger hurricanes, higher smog levels and many other threats to human health," said David Doniger at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
But the National Association of Manufacturers said trying to regulate greenhouse emissions with the Clean Air Act would "further burden an ailing economy while doing little or nothing to improve the environment."
"This proposal will cost jobs. It is the worst possible time to be proposing rules that will drive up the cost of energy to no valid purpose," NAM President John Engler said.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled two years ago that the EPA has the authority to make these regulations if human health is threatened by global warming pollution, but no regulations went forward during the Bush administration.
Carbon dioxide, one of several greenhouse gases that spur global warming, is emitted by natural and industrial sources, including fossil-fueled vehicles, coal-fired power plants and oil refineries.
The original Supreme Court case was aimed specifically at greenhouse pollution from cars and light trucks. The EPA said in its endangerment finding that motor vehicles contribute to rising greenhouse emissions and the "threat of climate change."
It said five other greenhouse gases also endanger health and contribute to global warming in addition to carbon dioxide: methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.
(Additional reporting by Tim Gardner and Ayesha Rascoe; editing by Paul Simao)
