The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that greenhouse gases threaten the public health and welfare of the American people, adding that greenhouse gases emitted from on-road vehicles contribute to that threat.
According to the EPA, these greenhouse gases are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly.
The EPA also said that the gases contribute to increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
"These long-overdue findings cement 2009's place in history as the year when the United States Government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
She added, "Business leaders, security experts, government officials, concerned citizens and the United States Supreme Court have called for enduring, pragmatic solutions to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution that is causing climate change."
On-road vehicles, the EPA said, contribute to over 23% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. The EPA said its proposed greenhouse gas standards for light-duty vehicles, a subset of on-road vehicles, would reduce the gas emissions by nearly 950 million metric tons and conserve 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of model year 2012-2016 vehicles.
As a result of human activities, the EPA added, greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are at record high levels. Further, data shows that the Earth has been warming over the past 100 years, with the steepest increase in warming in recent decades.
Some evidence the EPA pointed out to support that human activities have impacted temperatures include the melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers around the world, increasing ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, acidification of the oceans due to excess carbon dioxide, changing precipitation patterns, and changing patterns of ecosystems and wildlife.
The six specific greenhouse gases mentioned in the report are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. This marks the first time that the EPA has taken such a strong stance on these gases, especially carbon dioxide.
In response to the EPA's findings, Senator John Kerry, D-Mass, said, "This is a clear message to Copenhagen of the Obama Administration's commitment to address global climate change and a clear signal to Congress of the importance of passing comprehensive climate and energy legislation."
Kerry, the head of the Congressional delegation to the international climate negotiations beginning today in Copenhagen, said, "The EPA has acted on the Supreme Court's decision and made it clear that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to public health in the United States and can be addressed under the Clean Air Act."
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that global warming pollution is covered under the Clean Air Act, and the EPA began the process of determining if greenhouse gases warranted enough of a threat for the agency to act.
Kerry added that the message from the EPA is "crystal clear: get moving. If Congress does not pass legislation dealing with climate change, the administration is more than justified to use the EPA to impose new regulations."
Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also used the EPA's findings to urge Congress to move forward with climate change legislation, saying, "The endangerment finding released today confirms what we have been told by America's top scientists and leading scientists of the world --that unchecked global warming is perilous to human health and our environment."
"It is now clear that if we take our responsibility seriously to protect and defend our people from this threat, the Senate has a duty to act on climate change legislation that includes major components of the work done by the Energy and Environment Committees," she added.
Meanwhile, comments from Republicans indicated that they did not agree with the EPA's greenhouse gas standards proposal.
Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said, "The elected Congress, not an administrative agency, should write the laws governing the economy's response to climate change."
He added, "The costs of compliance with the EPA's unilateral announcement today could run into hundreds of billions of dollars a year - costs borne by average Americans through huge increases in their electric bills and at the gas pump. This is an especially bad idea when unemployment is at 10 percent."
The EPA's findings come as nations gather to meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to partake in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference, which begins Monday. The hope for the convention is that the nations can come to a global-wide agreement on how to curtail climate change.
The findings also come in the middle of what is being dubbed "Climategate," in which emails and other documents from a computer belonging to the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia were stolen. Allegedly, these emails and documents contain some directives to hold back evidence that would go against the current global climate change theories.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.