Issued today 4/28/2010
EPA Press Office
202-564-4355
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2010
Statement of Lisa P. Jackson Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Legislative Hearing on Clean Energy Policies That Reduce Our Dependence on Oil
House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment
WASHINGTON – Chairmen Markey and Waxman, Ranking Members Upton and Barton, Chairman Emeritus Dingell, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify about the Environmental Protection Agency’s work to reduce America’s oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions. That work stems from two seminal events.
First, in April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in Massachusetts v. EPA that the Clean Air Act’s definition of air pollution includes greenhouse gases. The Court rejected then-Administrator Johnson’s refusal to determine whether that pollution from motor vehicles endangers public health or welfare.
In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, and based on the best available science and EPA’s review of thousands of public comments, I found in December 2009 that motor-vehicle greenhouse gas emissions do endanger Americans’ health and welfare.
I am not alone in reaching that conclusion. Scientists at the 13 federal agencies that make up the U.S. Global Change Research Program have reported that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions pose significant risks to the wellbeing of the American public. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that the climate is changing, that the changes are mainly caused by human interference with the atmosphere, and that those changes will transform the environmental conditions on Earth unless counter-measures are taken.
The second pivotal event was the agreement President Obama announced in May 2009 between EPA, the Department of Transportation, the nation’s automakers, America’s autoworkers, and the State of California to seek harmonized, nationwide limits on the fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of new cars and light trucks.
My endangerment finding in December satisfied the prerequisite in the Clean Air Act for establishing a greenhouse gas emissions standard for cars and light trucks of Model Years 2012 through 2016. So I was able to issue that final standard earlier this month, on the same day that Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood signed a final fuel efficiency standard for the same vehicles.
Using existing technologies, manufacturers can configure new cars and light trucks to satisfy both standards at the same time. And vehicles complying with the federal standards will automatically comply with the greenhouse gas emissions standard established by California and adopted by 13 other states. This harmonized and nationally uniform program achieves the goal the President announced last May.
Moreover, the EPA and DOT standards will reduce the lifetime oil use of the covered vehicles by more than 1.8 billion barrels. That will do away with more than a billion barrels of imported oil, assuming the current ratio of domestic production to imports does not improve. The standards also will eliminate more than 960 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution.
But if Congress now nullified EPA’s finding that greenhouse gas pollution endangers the American public, that action would remove the legal basis for a federal greenhouse gas emissions standard for motor vehicles. Eliminating the EPA standard would forfeit one quarter of the combined EPA-DOT program’s fuel savings and one third of its greenhouse gas emissions cuts. California and the other states that have adopted California’s greenhouse gas emissions standard would almost certainly respond by enforcing that standard within their jurisdictions, leaving the automobile industry without the nationwide uniformity that it has described as vital to its business.
I would like to mention one more action that EPA has taken to reduce America’s oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions. In February, I signed a final renewable fuels standard. It substantially increases the volume of renewable products – including cellulosic bio-fuel – that refiners must blend into transportation fuel. EPA will implement the standard fully by the end of 2022. In that year alone, the standard will decrease America’s oil imports by 41 and a half billion dollars. And U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that year will be 138 million metric tons lower thanks to the standard.
EPA’s recent work on vehicles and fuels shows that enhancing America’s energy security and reducing America’s greenhouse gas pollution are two sides of the same coin.
R133
==============================
h/t to WUWT reader Michael C. Roberts
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Amino Acids in Meteorites says:
April 28, 2010 at 11:55 pm
There is also a move in Washington to make Puerto Rico become a State which would add ~1.8 millions voters, most of whom will vote Democrat , also adding 2 more Democrat Senators, and 6 Democrat Congressmen.
That’s been on the table for at least fifty years, but almost 70% of the population of Puerto Rico prefer their status as a Commonwealth. They have the best of both worlds — they have US citizenship and pay no federal taxes.
David44,
“David44 says:
April 28, 2010 at 8:53 pm
On Biofuels
As a major producer of palm oil, the Malaysian government is encouraging the production of biofuel feedstock and the building of biodiesel plants that use palm oil.”
I believe the palm oil industry is obsolescent and will soon be replaced by jatropha. Jatropha is the area that big business and governments are rushing into. The Indian government is talking about setting aside 100 million hectares for jatropha and Indonesia as much as 20 million hectares. Jatropha is far more efficient than palm oil, yielding as much as 10 tons of oil per hectare which is the main reason why palm oil must necessarily be abandoned. Even more importantly, jatropha can thrive on poor quality, semi arid land which would be a big incentive for European governments to back it instead of palm oil.
Anthony, check this video out http://www.blip.tv/file/3539174
A bit OT, but sorta relevant.
Those of You Born
1930 – 1979
We drank water
From the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends,
From one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon.
We drank Kool-Aid (OMG – there it is) made with real white sugar.
And, we weren’t overweight.
WHY?
Because we were
Always outside playing…that’s why!
No one was able
To reach us all day. And, we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps
And then ride them down the hill, only to find out
We forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes
a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes.
There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
No video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s,
No cell phones,
No personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS
And we went outside and found them!
These generations have produced some of the best
Risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years
Have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,
and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them?
CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others
who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the
lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives
for our own good.
What utter nonsense about small cars being death traps and big nutter SUVs being “safe”. I suggest people who have that view look at NCAP ratings and also at car accident death rates outside the USA before making such barking statements.
And whatever you think about CO2 pollution, surely what’s going on in the Gulf of Mexico at the moment isn’t exactly an advert for clean oil.
You don’t need 5 litre engines to get around, especially in countries where the speed limits are hardly challenging for a bicycle. My Audi TT does 35 mpg and 100 miles per hour on a 2 litre engine. But as the price of fuel rockets. I’m thinking of buying the diesel version next time, which is closer to 55 mpg with the same kind of performance.
‘I will never vote for another Democrat for as long as I live. Not even if they mend their ways. I can’t believe the mindset of supposedly educated and enlightened people. We are moving towards the dark ages and it is because of my party. I once thought the Republicans headed that charge with their religiosity. My bad. Dems are just as bad with their own form of religiosity. My vote for Obama has been rescinded.’
Please help to change Democrat Party.
Peter Miller says:
April 29, 2010 at 1:18 am
there is a crying need for Americans to become more fuel efficient….One way of achieving this is by increasing fuel taxes
No. Increasing taxes on fuel is absolutely the worst thing we could do, and is a typical liberals’ “solution” to any problem. Energy is the life-blood of an economy, and artificially raising its cost is like tying an anchor onto it. High energy costs particularly hurt the poor and middle class.
If people want smaller cars, they’ll buy them, and their reward will be lowered fuel use. The same goes for smaller, and better-insulated houses.
If the goal is greater energy independence, there are certainly ways to achieve that without higher energy taxes.
The bottom line is that higher energy costs are far more detrimental than anything positive they might accomplish.
KPO says: (April 29, 2010 at 3:13 am) We drank water
From the garden hose and not from a bottle.
Sweet, KPO! Been there… wanna go back…
LOL…and with what an ugly “prophet”! The Now hiperbotoxed and maked up Al Baby and his Global Warming/Climate change creed (of course a “creed” for him and the fool-believers, not for the hidden masters).
To the supposedly more educated among them, the ones “initiated”, are told the “hidden truth”: They are suppose to do this for the welfare of humanity, to achieve the possibility of “global governance”. However, these are fooled too: The harsh reality is Power and Money; thus to the not so easy believing, some “share” is given, just to make their total “conversion” possible.
Other kind of religions have a different goal: To achieve and reach the higher level of being possible to man. This, sometimes, is confused, to achieving also that lower lever manifestation of energy called “money”.
George E. Smith says:
April 28, 2010 at 5:36 pm
“This whole bunch in the inner circle of the present administration are in my humble opinion borderline criminally insane; and if the American People don’t get some guts this November and turf this whole clatch out of the Congress and get a Veto-Proof Senate of adult people; then you can kiss goodbye to the American experiment in liberty.”
They are not ‘criminally’ insane, they are only following orders.
The ‘American experiment’ ended 1901, when the ruling elite put one of their own in the White House.
“In 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated, and Roosevelt became president at the age of 42, taking office at the youngest age of any U.S. President in history. Roosevelt attempted to move the Republican Party in the direction of Progressivism, including trust busting and increased regulation of businesses. Roosevelt coined the phrase “Square Deal” to describe his domestic agenda, emphasizing that the average citizen would get a fair shake under his policies.
As an outdoorsman and naturalist, he promoted the conservation movement. On the world stage, Roosevelt’s policies were characterized by his slogan, “Speak softly and carry a big stick”. Roosevelt was the force behind the completion of the Panama Canal; he sent out the Great White Fleet to display American power, and he negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Roosevelt is the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.” (bold mine)
From Wiki here:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt
I find it fascinating how many parallels there are between Obama and Roosevelt!
Since Roosevelt the ruling elite have used there financial muscle to ensure control of the presidency whichever party came to power. They ensured that they would more often than not succeed by outspending the opposition, controlling the media, and using respected figures as paid-for ‘opinion’ formers.
Unless the peoples of the western world take direct action soon, the final step is a world government run by the elite, through the auspices of the UN, an institution they set up for this purpose. Their aim is the end of all wars and a much smaller global population which will ensure their lineage over the coming millennia.
Yes Jersey is going back. They are broke and spending the fees extorted from energy back to the general fund. Yesterday Spain was declared more broke by the bond markets. Obama drools over the Spanish economic model. Trains, wind turbines and 22% unemployed to watch trains traves and wind turbines tun all day.
To an impartial observer, Ms Jackson is typical of a certain class of modern liberally-educated wimmin who trot out their gender and race-based prejudices at every opprtunity but are so enamoured of their own success that they have given up any kind critical thought and are oblivious to their own various stupidities.
She and her sisters are not unusual around the world, neither are they to be entrusted with decisions about anything of importance as their rationality is too severely compromised by their egos.
Obamas shadow Government!
http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2010/04/obamas-shadow-government.html
**********
Veronica says:
April 29, 2010 at 3:33 am
What utter nonsense about small cars being death traps and big nutter SUVs being “safe”. I suggest people who have that view look at NCAP ratings and also at car accident death rates outside the USA before making such barking statements.
And whatever you think about CO2 pollution, surely what’s going on in the Gulf of Mexico at the moment isn’t exactly an advert for clean oil.
You don’t need 5 litre engines to get around, especially in countries where the speed limits are hardly challenging for a bicycle. My Audi TT does 35 mpg and 100 miles per hour on a 2 litre engine. But as the price of fuel rockets. I’m thinking of buying the diesel version next time, which is closer to 55 mpg with the same kind of performance.
*****************
The current oil spill in the long run will amount to a tempest in a teapot. Like the Valdez spill, no lasting harm will come of this. Oil is a natural mineral. It does have some toxicity, but the effect is still minimal. We have become a nation of whiners and wussies and the politicians play on our fears and insecurities. Wise up. They are just using you. (In the US, that is. Can’t speak for other countries.)
Secretary Salazar Announces Approval of Cape Wind Energy Project on Outer Continental Shelf off Massachusetts
http://www.doi.gov/news/doinews/Secretary-Salazar-Announces-Approval-of-Cape-Wind-Energy-Project-on-Outer-Continental-Shelf-off-Massachusetts.cfm
So much for Jabba the Ted’s legacy. The only worthwhile thing he accomplished in his entire besotted life was keeping this billion dollar white elephant boondoggle from getting approved.
Veronica says:
April 29, 2010 at 3:33 am
What utter nonsense about small cars being death traps and big nutter SUVs being “safe”.
Let people have their “utter nonsense”. We’ll let you be “smart”. Please don’t try to make people be like you. And they won’t try to make you like them.
You can think SUV’s aren’t safer. But for the sake of other peoples safety don’t require them to ride in small cars.
And if really are concerned about pollution please have the electricity at your house shut off. Walk to work. You can’t ride a bike to work because building a bike from raw materials created pollution. So you can’t own a bike. And really you can’t own shoes either. Pollution was created in their manufacture. No clothes too that were bought at the store. Pollution problem again. Please don’t buy groceries. Lots of pollution was created in getting it to the store, to keep the lights on at the store, to keep the refrigeration on there. So no food from the grocery store. No chocolate. Bad pollution issues there, and probably unfair labor practices to get the cocoa. No elevators. No more tv too Veronica. You’re a polluter. Your life has been creating pollution.
If you get the pollution out of your own life then you have the right to come here and preach others should do the same. Until then your environmentalism is about you controlling others. It is not about saving the earth.
Bill Tuttle says:
April 29, 2010 at 2:30 am
That’s been on the table for at least fifty years, but almost 70% of the population of Puerto Rico prefer their status as a Commonwealth
I know Bill. But what the people there want isn’t going to matter much just as what the people here want isn’t mattering much. A good example is Obamacare. Most of America didn’t and doesn’t want it. But here we have it anyway.
Any one who is surprised hasn’t been paying attention. A foregone conclusion
that the administration would stand by and watch the economy come back. Not
part of Obama’s plans.
Does anyone smell a conflict of interest from our politicians?
From http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=531731
“Cap-And-Trade: While senators froth over Goldman Sachs and derivatives, a climate trading scheme being run out of the Chicago Climate Exchange would make Bernie Madoff blush. Its trail leads to the White House.”
“Thanks to Fox News’ Glenn Beck, we have learned a lot about CCX, not the least of which is that its founder, Richard Sandor, says he knew Obama well back in the day when the Joyce Foundation awarded money to the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where Sandor was a research professor.”
“Sandor estimates that climate trading could be “a $10 trillion dollar market.” It could very well be, if cap-and-trade measures like Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Boxer are signed into law, making energy prices skyrocket, and as companies buy and sell permits to emit those six “greenhouse” gases.”
“So lucrative does this market appear, it attracted the attention of London-based Generation Investment Management, which purchased a stake in CCX and is now the fifth-largest shareholder.”
“Other founders include former Goldman Sachs partner David Blood, as well as Mark Ferguson and Peter Harris, also of Goldman Sachs. In 2006, CCX received a big boost when another investor bought a 10% stake on the prospect of making a great deal of money for itself. That investor was Goldman Sachs, now under the gun for selling financial instruments it knew were doomed to fail.”
“The actual mechanism for trading on the exchange was purchased and patented by none other than Franklin Raines, who was CEO of Fannie Mae at the time.”
“The climate trading scheme being stitched together here will do more damage than Goldman Sachs, AIG and Fannie Mae combined. But it will bring power and money to its architects.”
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=531731
Does it bother anyone that this story is not in the MSM?
Considering the imfluence of the above connections, The drive to pass the climate bill is enormous. How can we stop this raid on our hard earned dollars?
EPA=Enforced Predatory Activists
It is difficult to say anything at all kind about Ms. Jackson. I’m sure that in her world she is doing the right thing, but her delusion is so strong I’m wondering if it could be classified as a new mental illness.
Really, it doesn’t matter what your politics are… this group is doing their best to cause that “revolution” they formulated in the 60s, and nothing is going to stop them. If only the world worked as simply as the LSD fueled hippy fantasies think it does.
Those enemies have been dancing in the streets ever since the successful infiltration of the Republican Primaries put McCain as the candidate.
Veronica says:
April 29, 2010 at 3:33 am
You don’t need 5 litre engines to get around, especially in countries where the speed limits are hardly challenging for a bicycle. My Audi TT does 35 mpg and 100 miles per hour on a 2 litre engine. But as the price of fuel rockets. I’m thinking of buying the diesel version next time, which is closer to 55 mpg with the same kind of performance.
I don’t think you even realized that you assumed the elitist stereotype of the “progressive” left. You want some facts, figure out how many people can afford a newer Audi TT, let alone the diesel version. (2010 Audi TT $37,800 +)
Because you can afford you lavish lifestyle, you expect the poor folks should follow your “guidance”. Yeah, make them drive mini – sub – compacts while you drive your new diesel Audi. Let them eat cake.
Tenuc says: April 29, 2010 at 6:08 am
You have made a good exegesis job, now you can apply the same method to names.
Veronica says:
April 29, 2010 at 3:33 am
“You don’t need 5 litre engines to get around, especially in countries where the speed limits are hardly challenging for a bicycle. My Audi TT does 35 mpg”
Exactly how many sheets of plywood will fit in an Audi TT? How about 2×4’s?
How many bags of cement will fit in the trunk? Will a 9 cubic foot wheel barrow fit in the trunk? How about a lawn mower? A bicycle perhaps? A 10″ compound miter saw perhaps?
My 250cc moped gets 70 MPG, goes 80MPH and will carry as much stuff as an Audi TT.
You don’t need an Audi TT, a moped will carry just as much, gets twice the mileage and costs less then 10%.
I do however need a second vehicle that is big to carry the stuff I can’t fit on my moped. It has to be big enough to carry plywood, wheelbarrows and other various tools and building supplies.
R. de Haan says:
April 29, 2010 at 6:34 am
Just tell me: What happened with that company which manufactured voting machines (I don’t know how you call them) owned by Hugo Chavez and two other partners, there in the US, is it still working?….just guessing….