|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
By Category |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
India On Media |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Others
News |
|
| US 'must regulate car pollution' |
| The highest court in the US has ruled that the government was wrong to say it did not have the power to regulate exhaust gases from new cars and truck
|
| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 3-April-2007
10:25:27 AM |
| Twelve states and 13 campaign groups brought the landmark case against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The US Supreme Court said the EPA had offered "no reasoned explanation" for refusing to regulate carbon dioxide and other harmful gas emissions from cars.
The ruling was close, with five judges voting in favour and four dissenting.
The justices had been asked to consider whether carbon dioxide (CO2) should be defined as a pollutant and therefore subject to a law regulating emissions.
The states and environmental groups who brought the case said the US government had a legal duty, under the Clean Air Act, to restrict greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA had argued that the 1970 Act did not give it the powers to impose limits because CO2 was not deemed to be a pollutant.
Greenhouse gases - which occur naturally but which are also emitted by vehicles - have risen sharply over the past century, and many scientists believe they are contributing to global warming.
Vehement opposition
Observers say this is one of the most important environmental cases to reach the Supreme Court in decades.
BBC environment correspondent Richard Black says it settles a dispute which dates back eight years, since before George W Bush came to power.
The ruling says that unless the EPA can show that carbon dioxide is not involved in the warming seen around the world, the EPA should regulate it - and if it tries to make the case that CO2 is not involved, it would have a hard time winning it, our correspondent says.
By itself the ruling does not mean the Bush administration will change its approach to climate change, he adds.
But, combined with the turnaround in Congressional attitudes since the mid-term elections, growing state level legislation and the adoption of "climate care" by Evangelical churches, it makes significant action at national level within the next few years a lot more likely, he says.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENTS
Free offer!!! Become an administrator for your zip home page, "Post" local news (local to your postcode)& pictures, "Post" advertisement banners from local companies. Make Extra money.
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
|
