Earth Equity News

EPA Pick Vows to Put Science First. By John M. Broder, NYTimes, January 19, 2009. "Lisa P. Jackson, chosen to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said at her confirmation hearing Wednesday morning that her first task would be to restore scientific and legal integrity to an agency battered by charges of political interference and coziness with industry. But she evaded questions on whether as administrator of the E.P.A. she would immediately grant authority to California and 16 other states to regulate vehicle tailpipe emissions, promising only a speedy review of the issue. Nor did she directly answer questions on whether and how the agency would address regulation of carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, an authority granted the E.P.A. by the Supreme Court in 2007... The ranking Republican on the committee, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, noted that former Vice President Al Gore and many other experts of global warming had suggested that a tax on carbon would be a more effective means of reducing carbon emissions than a cap-and-trade system like the one advocated by President-elect Barack Obama. Ms. Jackson said that it was a legitimate subject for debate, but that she would support Mr. Obama's preference for cap-and-trade, under which a limit is set on emissions and polluters must buy or trade permits to meet it."