Denial of Petitions for Reconsideration of the Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act
Action
EPA determined in December 2009 that climate change caused by emissions of greenhouse gases threatens the public's health and the environment. Since then, EPA received ten petitions challenging this determination. On July 29, 2010, EPA denied these petitions.
The petitions to reconsider EPA's "Endangerment Finding" claimed that climate science can't be trusted, and asserted a conspiracy that calls into question the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Exit, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Exit, and the U.S. Global Change Research Program. After months of serious consideration of the petitions and of the state of climate change science, EPA found no evidence to support these claims.
The scientific evidence supporting EPA's finding is robust, voluminous, and compelling. Climate change is happening now, and humans are contributing to it. Multiple lines of evidence show a global warming trend over the past 100 years. Beyond this, melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers around the world, increasing ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, altered precipitation patterns, and shifting patterns of ecosystems and wildlife habitats all confirm that our climate is changing.
Response to Petitions
- Decision document: Copy of FR Notice. Download a PDF version of the Decision Document.
- Response to Petitions Document. Download PDF versions of the Response to Petitions Documents.
Resources
Scientific Assessment Reports
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report Exit
- National Academy of Sciences: America's Climate Choices Exit
- NOAA: State of the Climate in 2009
- U.S. Global Change Research Program: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
Recent inquiries and investigations of the CRU emails and IPCC
Recent investigations and inquiries into the emails by other organizations have all resulted in clearing the scientists of alleged wrong-doing. The following links exit the site Exit
- The Independent Climate Change E-mails Review (University of East Anglia)
- Report of the International Panel set up by the University of East Anglia to examine the research of the Climatic Research Unit (University of East Anglia)
- The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (U.K. House of Commons Science and Technology Committee) (61 pp, 313 K, About PDF)
- Assessing an IPCC assessment - An analysis of statements on projected regional impact in the 2007 report(Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency)
- RA-10 Final Investigation Report Involving Dr. Michael E. Mann (Pennsylvania State University)(19 pp, 779 K, About PDF)