US Senate: EPA to delay action on CO2 emissions

Despite last year's Supreme Court ruling mandating that the agency must review the impact of carbon dioxide emissions, EPA administrator Stephen Johnson will announce today that action will be deferred until the Bush administration leaves office.

"After more than seven years, this Administration is still not willing to make the hard choices to confront global warming," Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, said in a release.

EPA spokesman Tim Lyons said the EPA's proposed rule-making that will be revealed later in the day is not a delay because acting on climate change "takes a lot of time, thought and analysis," without going into more details.

The delay in action is a victory for automakers beset by rising material costs and softening demand. This decision will give them time to prepare for production changes that may require significant capital investment.

What is now clear is that — after years of equivocation — the Bush administration has succeeded in passing the buck on tackling climate change.

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