WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (AFP) - The US government said Monday it would start to regulate carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant, sidestepping a divided Congress to boost global climate talks in Copenhagen.
The decision paves the way for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue standards on how much carbon US factories, buildings and cars can emit, even though legislation has yet to pass through the Congress.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed orders declaring six greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide blamed for global warming to be pollutants that are subject to government regulation.
The EPA "is now authorized and obligated to make reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants," she told a news conference.
"These are reasonable, common-sense steps," she said. "It means that we arrive at the climate talks in Copenhagen with a clear demonstration of our commitment to facing this global challenge."
Jackson said the ruling would have only one immediate effect -- the United States would finalize its first nationwide carbon emission standards on light trucks.
But it gives President Barack Obama, who heads to the 192-nation summit in Copenhagen next week, powerful new leverage to meet US pledges on emissions even if his critics in Congress derail legislation.
The EPA ruling is the culmination of government studies since April 2007, when five of the nine judges on the Supreme Court agreed that carbon dioxide was a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
"It's a signal from the administration heading into Copenhagen that, look, we've got things going on in Congress but we're also not going to wait for them," said Joe Mendelson, the global warming policy director for the National Wildlife Federation who worked on the Supreme Court case.
"It says we've got our authority, the Supreme Court gave it to us, and we're going to use it," he said.
But the move has already faced fierce resistance by business leaders and many lawmakers of the rival Republican Party.
The US Chamber of Commerce, the nation's top business lobby, feared that businesses would be subject to a host of new regulations at a time of economic uncertainty.
Thomas Donohue, the chamber's president, said in a statement ahead of the ruling that the EPA threatened to "choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently backed down on one of the country's most far-reaching plans, in which owners of large buildings would have to undergo audits and pick up costs to make them more energy-efficient.
Republican lawmakers have also seized on recent leaked emails from prominent climate scientists that they say calls into question the basis behind action on global warming.
"The EPA must now withdraw all proposed climate change rules and regulations and conduct their own research," Senator John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, said ahead of the final ruling.
Jackson said that the emails were taken out of context and that the EPA was certain about its view on climate change.
"Raising doubts even in the face of overwhelming evidence is a tactic that has been used by defenders of the status quo for years," she said.
The House of Representatives in June narrowly approved legislation to set up the first US nationwide "cap-and-trade" system -- similar to a plan in Europe that restricts emissions but offers businesses an economic incentive by allowing trading in credits.
Both Jackson and congressional leaders said they still preferred a cap-and-trade system, as it would affect the entire economy.
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