Are we finally starting to see a turning point in the USA with regards to global warming and climate change issues? Not only is the Congress now completely in the hands of the far more environmentally friendly Democrats, but the the judges and the courts are also starting to face the ever hotter facts about global warming and greenhouse gasses. In a stunning defeat for President Bush the Supreme Court, the country's highest court, ruled against EPA and the Bush administration. The EPA refused to regulate carbon dioxide and other emissions from new cars and trucks that contribute to climate change. Bush wants voluntary measures believing that mandatory control to greenhouse gasses are harmful to the country's economy. Furthermore Bush has claimed that EPA has no power to regulate carbon emissions within the existing legal framework, and that even if they had the power Bush said that they should not do so.
However, now the Supreme Court has ruled that the EPA should reconsider its refusal to regulate carbon dioxide and other emissions and that it is indeed within their power to regulate these greenhouse gasses. This implies that EPA actually has to actively regulate greenhouse gasses unless there is scientific proof that carbon emissions do not lead to global warming (as we all know by now the vast majority of the serious scientific community is of the opinion that greenhouse gasses indeed contribute substantially to global warming). What this in effect means is that EPA no longer can avoid responsibility and must take action to regulate greenhouse gasses. The cars in USA alone make up 6% of total global emissions. Now the USA will have to define these emissions as pollutants and start regulating them, which is indeed what several states are pushing to do. The law could also set an important precedent for other environmental sectors.
I hope we will see more good news like this coming from the USA, the world's biggest contributor towards global warming with the world's highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
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