The Obama Administration on Christmas Eve Day said it will regulate carbon emissions from power plants. AFP reports:
US President Barack Obama’s administration said it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, setting up a climate change battle with a skeptical new Congress.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it would set standards for fossil fuel power plants and petroleum refineries, which together emit nearly 40 percent of the gasses blamed for climate change in the United States.
The decision comes after a bill to set up a "cap-and-trade" program to restrict emissions in the world’s second largest polluter died in the Senate, although the EPA insisted it was not trying to replace action by Congress.
Sure it wasn’t. Congress needs to reign in regulatory power by the executive branch, and this is a bipartisan problem as well. Agencies should only be able to enforce laws that Congress passes and the President signs – not rules they decide to create. Congress needs to reign them in.