"The Obama Administration announced Tuesday its intention to regulate CO2 emissions from power plants for the first time. The new rule, nimbly titled 'Greenhouse Gas New Source Performance Standard for Electric Utility Steam Generating Units,' would allow the Environmental Protection Agency to create emissions standards for new power plants."

"It is another end-run around a Congress that has balked at passing cap-and-trade legislation or other remedies to curb greenhouse gases.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA had the right and responsibility to determine whether greenhouse gases endangered public health, making them subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. The agency released its 'endangerment' finding, a prelude to such regulation, just before the 2009 Copenhagen summit on climate change.

Since then, however, the White House and the EPA have delayed proposing new regulations, under intense pressure from Republican lawmakers, who have tagged the agency as a source of 'job-killing regulation.'"

Dean Kuipers reports for the Los Angeles Times' Greenspace blog November 8, 2011. [2]