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Is Carbon Dioxide a Pollutant? ENVH 111 October 5, 2010 http://courses.washington.edu/envh111/ Carbon Dioxide is NOT a Pollutant! • CO2 is a natural component of the atmosphere • We exhale it continuously • Plants need it to grow and to produce oxygen • If CO2 is a pollutant, then what isn’t a pollutant? Washington Times Editorial 3/29/09 “Protect Us from the EPA” • CO2 is natural – ‘If carbon dioxide wasn’t around, there would be no plants’ – ‘Neither would there be any people or pets if we weren’t allowed to exhale’ • Benefits of global warming – Longer lives – Greater biodiversity, agricultural production – ‘Ocean levels might rise, but parts of Canada and Russia would be much more habitable’ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/29/protect-us-from-the-epa/ Washington Times Editorial 3/29/09 “Protect Us from the EPA” • It’s not clear that global warming is real – Recent evidence of cooling – Big factor is variations in the sun’s energy output • Human activity is not affecting climate change – Responsible for only small fraction of greenhouse gases – Changes in GHG have little effect on global temperatures • Proposed changes would be catastrophic – ‘We don’t want to eliminate all carbon emissions’ What is a Pollutant? POLLUTE to make physically impure or unclean Contaminate Poison Defile Carbon Dioxide Benign? Carbon Dioxide Greenpeace burns CO2 in effigy Or Noxious? “Carbon Dioxide: A Satanic Gas?” Professor Patrick Michaels Testimony U.S. House of Representatives CO2 in the Workplace Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) 10,000 ppm (1%) CO2 in atmosphere 390 ppm (0.039%) Too Much CO2 Respiratory Acidosis • Respiratory acidosis o Lungs cannot remove all of the CO2 the body produces o Disrupts body’s acid-base balance (too acidic) • Symptoms o o o o Confusion Lethargy Shortness of breath Sleepiness Too Little CO2 Respiratory Alkalosis • Respiratory alkalosis o Low levels of CO2 in the blood o Disrupts body’s acid-base balance (too basic) • Symptoms o o o o Dizziness Light-headedness Numbness of hands and feet Sleepiness • Treatment o Breath into paper bag (re-breathe CO2) The Greenhouse Effect Natural greenhouse effect increases surface temperatures by about 30oC. Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations increases surface temperatures. Source: Martin Manning, Director, IPCC Working Group Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations Charles Keeling Mauna Loa Volcano How CO2 Became a Pollutant • A second definition of “pollutant” o To contaminate an environment, especially with man-made waste o CO2 is a waste gas of fossil fuel combustion • Timeline o 1998 – Clinton administration judged the Clean Air Act to be applicable to CO2, but did not implement o 2003 – Bush administration reversed this judgment o 2006 – EPA rules that Clean Air Act does not apply to CO2 o 2007 -- Massachusetts files suit against EPA The Clean Air Act provides: “The Administrator shall by regulation prescribe (and from time to time revise) in accordance with the provisions of this section, standards applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from any class or classes of new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines, which in his judgment cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” Supreme Court: Massachusetts vs EPA • Global warming o Well-documented rise in global temperatures o Related to significant in increase in atmospheric CO2 o “The harms associated with climate change are serious and well-recognized.” o EPA does not dispute causal connection • Clean Air Act definition “any air pollution agent . . . including any physical, chemical, biological, radioactive . . . substance or matter that is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air” Supreme Court Ruling • Greenhouse gases ‘fit well within the Act’s capacious definition of air pollutants’ • EPA ‘has statutory authority to regulate emission of such gases from new motor vehicles’ • EPA required to regulate ‘air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare’ • EPA action was not ‘arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise not in accordance with law’ EPA clears way for greenhouse gas rule NY Times, April 17, 2009 • EPA ‘formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that endanger public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that will lead to the regulation of the gases for the first time in the United States.’ • Brings USA into line with European Community and Japan • Six gases declared greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride Regulation of GHG under the Clean Air Act • May 2007: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that GHGs are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act. • December 2009: EPA issued “Endangerment Finding,” stating that current and projected levels of six GHGs threaten the health and human welfare of current and future generations • May 2010: EPA issued “Tailoring Rule,” permitting guidelines to the largest stationary sources of GHGs, excluding smaller factories, restaurants and farms • December 2010: EPA issued guidance to states on implementing GHG permits • January 2011: New GHG air permitting began for facilities that would have to get air permits for non-GHG pollutants anyway • January 2011: EPA proposed a three-year deferral of GHG permits for biomass. • July 2011: New GHG permitting began for new facilities that would emit: – more than 100,000 tons of CO2 per year; – where major modification increase emissions by 75,000 tons of CO2 per year