In a landmark ruling today, US President Barack Obama's administration found that greenhouse gases threaten US air quality and public health, setting the stage for new limits on industry emissions that cause global warming, according to dpa. The so-called "endangerment finding" by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had long been anticipated by environmental groups and marks the latest shift on US climate policy since Obama took office in January. The ruling, which now has to be submitted for public comment for 60 days, would allow the government to regulate greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide under existing clean air laws in the United States. "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statements. Former president George W Bush had rejected imposing mandatory limits on climate-damaging pollution and the decision comes nearly two years after the US Supreme Court ruled that the EPA must consider regulating greenhouse gases under the existing Clean Air Act, a 1990 US law governing air pollution. "The US is taking its first steps as a nation to confront climate change," said Vickie Patt of the climate group Environmental Defense Fund. "EPA's action is a wake up-call for national policy solutions that secure our economic and environmental future."
