EPA chief defends authority to regulate GHG

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, speaking at the National Press Club Monday, defended her agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Jackson questioned Congressional efforts to stop EPA from imposing new emissions curbs on business, saying such legislation could have “serious negative economic effects.” She says industry needs clear signals from the U.S. government on greenhouse gas regulations—otherwise, she says, investors would have “little incentive” to put money into clean energy jobs.

Jackson also talked about the growing chorus of those who are questioning the validity of climate change science, saying ”there’s certainly an organized effort to sow doubt in people’s minds—and there’s some indication that it may be working, on some level.”

But Jackson says there is no doubt that man-made climate change is real.

“As the head of the EPA, I believe I have to continue to stand here and make it crystal clear,” Jackson says, “that the science isn’t unsettled—that we do know that our emissions of greenhouse gases are accumulating in our atmosphere and interfering with the way the atmosphere is supposed to work.”

Jackson says a failure to act will mean “catastrophic problems” going forward.  Instead of trying to suspend the rules, she says, Congress should focus on drafting its own climate bill.

Link to video of Jackson’s remarks on c-span.org