The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today issued a “Denial of Petitions for Reconsideration of the Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act.” EPA had received 10 petitions challenging its December 2009 finding that climate change caused by emissions of greenhouse gases threatens the public’s health and the environment. These petitions came from fossil fuel interests, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, anti-regulatory ideologue NGOs, and the state governments of Texas and Virginia. EPA flatly rejected every issue raised by petitioners, with detailed responses and a hard-hitting 3-page “Fact Sheet” summary of essential points.
With the collapse of climate change policy in a U.S. Senate that has become profoundly dysfunctional at performing essential governance, the EPA regulatory process becomes increasingly essential, and the protection of EPA’s ability to move forward with aggressive regulation to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and transportation becomes the new front line of climate policy trench warfare in the Nation’s capital—and a litmus test of the integrity and accountability of the Obama Administration and the Congresssional majority party in translating the science behind the Endangerment Finding into action commensurate with the challenge.
The EPA web page documenting action on the petitions contains the following, with links to underlying documents:
EPA determined in December 2009 that climate change caused by emissions of greenhouse gases threatens the public’s health and the environment. Since then, EPA received ten petitions challenging this determination. On July 29, 2010, EPA denied these petitions.
The petitions to reconsider EPA’s “Endangerment Finding” claimed that climate science can’t be trusted, and asserted a conspiracy that calls into question the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Global Change Research Program. After months of serious consideration of the petitions and of the state of climate change science, EPA found no evidence to support these claims.
The scientific evidence supporting EPA’s finding is robust, voluminous, and compelling. Climate change is happening now, and humans are contributing to it. Multiple lines of evidence show a global warming trend over the past 100 years. Beyond this, melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers around the world, increasing ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, altered precipitation patterns, and shifting patterns of ecosystems and wildlife habitats all confirm that our climate is changing.
Response to Petitions
Decision document: Pre-publication copy of FR Notice (PDF) (217 pp, 536K)
Preface (PDF) (7 pp, 39K)
Volume 1: Climate Science and Data Issues Raised by Petitioners (PDF) (166 pp, 1.2MB)
Volume 2: Issues Raised by Petitioners on EPA’s Use of IPCC (PDF) (84 pp, 368K)
Volume 3: Process Issues Raised by Petitioners (PDF) (116 pp, 575K)
Fact sheet (PDF) (3 pp, 45K)
Myths vs. Facts
Scientific Assessment Reports
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report
National Academy of Sciences: America’s Climate Choices
NOAA: State of the Climate in 2009
U.S. Global Change Research Program: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
Recent inquiries and investigations of the CRU emails and IPCC
Recent investigations and inquiries into the emails by other organizations have all resulted in clearing the scientists of alleged wrong-doing.
The Independent Climate Change E-mails Review (University of East Anglia)
Report of the International Panel set up by the University of East Anglia to examine the research of the Climatic Research Unit (University of East Anglia)
The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (U.K. House of Commons Science and Technology Committee) (PDF) (61 pp, 313K)
Assessing an IPCC assessment – An analysis of statements on projected regional impact in the 2007 report (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) (PDF) (100 pp, 1.9MB)
RA-10 Final Investigation Report Involving Dr. Michael E. Mann (Pennsylvania State University) (PDF) (19 pp, 779K)
Arthur Randol – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (12 pp, 169K)
Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America – Petition for Reconsideration and for Stay Pending Reconsideration (PDF) (38 pp, 120K)
Coalition for Responsible Regulation et al. – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (40 pp, 571K)
Commonwealth of Virginia – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (5 pp, 273K)
Competitive Enterprise Institute et al. – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (13 pp, 3.82MB)
Supplement to Petition (PDF) (6 pp, 1.62MB)
Ohio Coal Association – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (11 pp, 97K)
Supplemental Petition (PDF) (25 pp, 219K)
Pacific Legal Foundation – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (58 pp, 461K)
Peabody Energy Company – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (238 pp, 1.04MB)
Southeastern Legal Foundation et al. – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (28 pp, 236K)
First Amendment to Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (3 pp, 43K)
Second Amendment to Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (4 pp, 44K)
Third Amendment to Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (40 pp, 729K)
Fourth Amendment to Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (2 pp, 43K)
Fifth Amendment to Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (23 pp, 343K)
State of Texas – Petition for Reconsideration (PDF) (38 pp, 1.28MB)