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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Eric Young, NRDC, 202-289-2373

EPA Takes Big Step to Reduce Carbon Pollution

Follows Through on 2007 Supreme Court Ruling to Protect Health, Air and Climate

WASHINGTON

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Administrator Lisa
Jackson made an historic announcement today to move forward with the
ruling that the carbon pollution that causes global warming is a danger
to public health and welfare. This action will finally enable the EPA
to begin implementing the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that carbon
pollution can be curbed under the Clean Air Act.

Following
is a statement by David Doniger, Policy Director of the Climate Center
at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and its attorney in the
Supreme Court's landmark global warming case, Massachusetts v. EPA:

"At
long last, the EPA has officially recognized that carbon pollution is
harmful to our health and to the climate. The heat-trapping pollution
from our cars and power plants leads to killer heat waves, stronger
hurricanes, higher smog levels, and many other direct and indirect
threats to human health.

"With this step, Administrator
Lisa Jackson and the Obama administration have gone a long way to
restore respect for both science and law. The era of defying science
and the Supreme Court has ended.

"Acknowledging that
global warming pollution is dangerous to our health and our environment
requires the EPA to follow up with standards under the Clean Air Act --
the nation's most effective environmental law -- to curb carbon
pollution from our cars, power plants, and other industrial sources.

"The
technology exists to cut carbon pollution while strengthening our
economy. Mainly by increasing energy efficiency and moving to cleaner
energy sources, we can create millions of jobs, save consumers billions
of dollars, and cut our dangerous dependence on oil.

"We
will work with the Obama administration as it carries out the existing
Clean Air Act, and we look to Congress to enact a strong comprehensive
climate and energy legislation.

"Cleaner energy will
help America meet its greatest challenges and will be an economic
engine for the 21st century. Today's action is an important step toward
making our climate and our planet safer for future generations."

Read David Doniger's blog: Terms of Endangerment: EPA to Cut Global Warming Pollution

Join NRDC's David Doniger for a live online discussion about EPA's endangerment on Monday, April 20, at 1 p.m. on NRDC's Switchboard.

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