The Clean Air Act charges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with regulating air pollution from vehicles. The EPA argues that carbon-dioxide emissions do not meet the act’s definition of pollution. It also contends that regulating them would do no good unless other countries did the same. That is in keeping with the policies of George Bush. America’s president says that any international accord on global warming should apply to all countries, unlike the Kyoto Protocol which exempts poor ones, including big polluters such as China and India.
But not all American officialdom is happy with the federal government’s stance. A dozen states disagree so fiercely they are suing to force it to impose rules on emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. The Supreme Court was due to hear arguments in the case on Wednesday November 29th. The outcome will not be known for several months, but the political wind seems to be shifting in favour of firmer action to counter climate change.
