EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules Upheld By Federal Court

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) had announced in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, triggering controls on automobiles and other large sources. But the administration has always said it preferred to address global warming through a new law. A federal appeals court in USA is upholding the first-ever regulations aimed at reducing the gases blamed for global warming.

The rules, which were challenged by industry groups and various states, will reduce emissions of six heat-trapping gases from large industrial facilities such as factories and power plants, as well as from automobile tailpipes.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said that the Environmental Protection Agency was "unambiguously correct" in using existing federal law to address global warming. The court on Tuesday denied two challenges to the administration's rules, including one arguing that the agency erred in concluding greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare.

The court dismissed arguments against two other regulations dealing with pollution from new factories and other industrial facilities, saying that no one challenging the rules could show they had been harmed by them.

Industry groups vowed to fight on. Environmentalists, meanwhile, called it a landmark decision for global warming policy, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Republican-controlled House.