EPA denies challenges to greenhouse gas rule

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By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday rejected 10 petitions challenging EPA's 2009 finding that climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and the environment.

The EPA received petitions questioning the scientific basis for the so-called endangerment finding -- which cleared the way for the EPA to curb carbon dioxide emissions -- from Texas and Virginia and groups like the Ohio Coal Association.

With the U.S. Senate abandoning climate measures in the energy bill until at least September, the EPA has the authority to regulate emissions from such human activities as coal-fired power plants and fossil-fueled factories and vehicles.

"The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and around the world," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. "These petitions -- based as they are on selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy -- provide no evidence to undermine our determination."

Environmental advocates praised the agency's decision for its reliance on decades of research and the need for action to limit climate-warming emissions.

"Some senators insist Congress should set global warming policy, not the EPA, but ... the Senate has failed to get the job done," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Their failure to address climate exposes their attacks on the EPA for what they are -- a blatant attempt to eliminate the primary tool the government has to protect human health."

http://www.scientifi...-greenhouse-gas