One Last Thing, Undecided Voters: Obama Would Regulate CO2 as a Pollutant Under Clean Air Act

If you haven’t made up your mind who to vote for in tomorrow’s presidential election, I’m not sure that what I am about to tell you will help — but it just might. Both candidates told the web site sciencedebate2008 that they accept the scientific agreement that greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are changing the Earth’s climate. And both candidates have said they want to cap emissions produced by the burning of those fossil fuels.

But only Barack Obama has said he would regulate CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

President George W. Bush has declined to curb CO2 emissions under the auspices of the Clean Air Act, despite the fact that the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the federal government must do so.

If elected, the Democratic senator from Illinois will tell the Environmental Protection Agency that it may use the 1990 Clean Air Act to set emissions limits on power plants and manufacturers, according to his energy adviser Jason Grumet.

If elected, Obama would be the first president to group emissions blamed for global warming into a category of pollutants that includes lead and carbon monoxide. Obama’s rival in the presidential race, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, has not said how he would treat CO2 under the act.

Image: © Ben Heys | Dreamstime.com

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