The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a historic decision recognizing for the first time that greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), cause climate change and are hazardous to public health. The measure marks a turning point in US climate policy. This reverses the old Bush administration doubts on the need to address carbon emissions. The Bush administration had refused for years to regulate the emissions harmful to the environment because these actions affect the economy.

The EPA’s new position will force federal authorities to take measures to curb industrial emissions of gases that cause global warming. In its communiqué, the EPA noted that “the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threaten public health, the common welfare, and future generations.”

“The high atmospheric levels are the clear result of human emissions, and very likely the cause of the increase in average temperatures and observed climate change,” added the environmental agency. “This environmental problem has a solution that will create millions of green jobs and end dependence on foreign oil in our country,” said Lisa P. Jackson, EPA director.

The environmental agency said that motor vehicles contribute to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases and boost ‘the threat of climate change.’ According to scientific guidelines, the five other greenhouse gases that endanger health besides CO2 are methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

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Via monstersandcritics/Clackamas Review