U.S EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has issued a memorandum declaring carbon dioxide off limits to agency officials reviewing new coal-fired power plant applications, report Matthew L. Wald and Felicity Barringer of The New York Times.
In the 19-page memo, released Thursday, Johnson said:
As of the date of this memorandum, EPA will … exclude pollutants for which EPA regulations only require monitoring or reporting … Since 1993, EPA has had regulations in place requiring monitoring and reporting of carbon dioxide emissions.
The outgoing EPA chief, appointed by President George W. Bush, published the memo in response to a November decision by the EPA Environmental Appeals Board denying the permit for a 110-megawatt coal plant in eastern Utah.
In its verdict, the three-judge panel accepted the argument that because federal law requires that carbon dioxide be monitored, and monitoring is de facto regulation, the impact of a plant’s CO2 output must be measured prior to any permit approval.
Johnson overruled the board with his memo, and directly contradicted the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled last year that the EPA could regulate carbon dioxide.
“It’s a marvel to behold an EPA action that so utterly disdains global warming responsibility and disdains the law at the same time,” said John Walke, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement. “EPA’s administrator is defying the agency’s own judges, the Clean Air Act, and the course of history that recognizes the urgency in tackling global warming.”