Obama feels opposing winds on climate effort

Dec 29 - USA TODAY - By Robin Bravender

Jan. 2 isn't your ordinary Sunday. That day, the Obama administration officially starts regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and critics have issued dire predictions of economic destruction.

With all the fiery rhetoric about how damaging the regulations could be, the White House is under pressure to fulfill its vow to tackle climate change while avoiding the appearance it's hindering job growth.

GOP lawmakers have launched a series of efforts to hamstring the Environmental Protection Agency -- and that's before the rules have officially kicked in. Those efforts are likely to increase in frequency and in force in the next Congress as Republicans claim the House majority and industries continue to lobby against the greenhouse gas regulations.

Incoming House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., last week accused EPA of advancing a "long regulatory assault" against domestic energy producers.

"The EPA has its foot firmly on the throat of our economic recovery," he said. "We will not allow the administration to regulate what they have been unable to legislate."

President Obama and top EPA officials insist they would have preferred comprehensive climate legislation, but they say they're legally bound to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act after a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision ordered the EPA to determine whether the heat-trapping gases endanger the public. And within the confines of the law, the administration argues, it's doing the best it can.

So what actually happens Jan. 2? New and upgraded industrial facilities such as power plants and refineries will be forced to install technologies to curb their greenhouse gas emissions.

At first, the greenhouse gas rules will apply only to new and modified plants that would already trigger control requirements based on their emissions of other pollutants regulated by EPA, like soot or smog.

Starting in July, large plants will fall under EPA's rules based only on their greenhouse gas output.

Industry attorney Jeff Holmstead warned that long delays could occur as authorities work to issue greenhouse gas permits for the first time and as opponents of new projects challenge the emission control requirements in court. Holmstead served as EPA air chief during the George W. Bush administration.