April 19
The chairwoman of the Senate environment committee has called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take immediate steps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that the agency has the authority to do so.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., speaking at the National Press Club in Washington on April 18, outlined three steps she wants the agency to take.
First, she wants the agency to allow California and other states to implement their own global pollution standards for cars. California is calling for a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas pollutants from automobiles.
Second, she wants the EPA to establish a national greenhouse gas emission standard for cars that is at least as stringent as California´s.
Third, she said the EPA should establish greenhouse gas emission standards for new and modified coal-burning power plants.
Boxer said she would repeat her request on April 24 when EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson is scheduled to appear before her committee. "I will challenge him to use the power the EPA has had all along to address global warming and has refused to use," she told the Press Club audience. "The Supreme Court has left this administration with no excuses for further delay."
Former EPA administrators Carol Browner, who served during the Clinton administration, and William Reilly, who served during the administration of George H.W. Bush, also are scheduled to testify during the hearing.
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