The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) propsed an "endangerment finding" to the White House last Friday concerning the risk posed to human health by greenhouse gases, according to a Reuters report.
The finding is the first step in regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
The exact content of the finding has not yet been made public, but the White House website confirmed that the proposal has been submitted.
U.S. Representative Ed Markey, a Democrat who heads the House climate change committee, said, "This finding will officially end the era of denial on global warming. Instead of allowing political interference in scientific and legal decisions, as was the case in the previous administration, the Obama administration is letting the sun shine in on the dangerous realities of global warming."
The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA has the authority to to regulate greenhouse gases if human health is threatened by global warming pollution.
EPA scientists reportedly sent a document to the Bush White House initiating such a finding, only to have it ignored by the administration.
The Obama administration appears to be taking a two-pronged approach to addressing climate change–moving forward with EPA Clean Air regulations and also pushing for cap-and-trade legislation in Congress.
Last week the EPA proposed a comprehensive system for reporting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Companies emitting more than 15,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases a year would be required to report beginning for the year 2010.
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