The Environmental Protection Agency is moving quickly toward defining carbon dioxide as a pollutant of the same nature as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen. A recent memorandum from EPA General Counsel Jonathan Cannon to Administrator Carol Browner says that CO2 emissions are definitely within the scope of EPA's present Clean Air Act regulatory authority. He says that if there is scientific evidence that CO2 presents "a threat to human health, welfare, or the environment" then it falls into the same category as SO2 or NOx, and can be regulated as a criteria pollutant.
This would mean promulgation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for CO2, followed by a call for state implementation plans to reduce ambient CO2 levels to acceptable limits. Given that the vast majority of CO2 is emitted naturally, attainment could pose a problem for states.
According to Fred Palmer, general manager of Western Fuels Association, this ruling is a clear signal that EPA will move to regulate CO2. Palmer says that "only in the Orwellian world of modern day environmentalism could CO2 be regarded as a pollutant by the governments of the world and the Clinton administration." Western Fuels a fuel supply cooperative whose members are electric power cooperatives and municipal utilities.
Palmer has founded a group, the Greening Earth Society, to work on the global warming issue, arguing that more CO2 is a good thing for the planet, not a catastrophe. The society says that if CO2 levels continue their present rate of increase, in just 50 years:
* Soybean yields in America's heartland will increase by 25 percent. * Winter wheat yields in Europe will increase by 30 percent. * Trees will grow 27 percent better, with thicker trunks, more leaves and branches, and more extensive root systems that use nutrients more efficiently.
See: www.greeningearthsociety.org
Regarding EPA's possible designation of CO2 as a criteria pollutant, Palmer says, "This expansive reading of EPA's regulatory jurisdiction will no doubt be challenged as a matter of law. In addition, EPA's conclusion that CO2, a benign gas required for life on earth, can be properly characterized as a pollutant inimical to human health and welfare will certainly be challenged in both the judiciary and the court of public opinion."
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