EPA's CO2 decision was long overdue

Carbon dioxide emissions are probably way up this week, based on the number of folks caterwauling about the EPA's ruling that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and the environment.

Some critics are blasting the announcement - timed to coincide with the international conference on climate change in Copenhagen - as an attempt by the Obama administration to prepare an end-run around Congress if lawmakers don't pass restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide and other contributors to global warming.

Officials at the National Association of Manufacturers said the EPA's action "is certain to come at a huge cost to the economy." Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told The Wall Street Journal that the EPA's ruling "could result in a top-down command-and-control regime that will choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project."

But such complaints are hot air. No one should have been blindsided by this.

The EPA made its intentions clear this spring when it declared that carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping emissions from autos, power plants and industries are threats to public health and welfare and can be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

At that time - and repeatedly since then - White House officials said they prefer a legislative solution that would allow more flexibility in setting new emission limits. The Chamber of Commerce, in fact, is among organizations favoring a legislative rather than a regulatory approach.

But this week's announcement also comes a full two years after the conservative U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has both the authority and an obligation to regulate auto emissions that contribute to global warming.

The Bush administration brushed off the ruling, but the EPA's decision was an inevitability.

Curbing emissions will require major shifts in the way U.S. industries, including automakers, do business. Some of those shifts are already occurring. A long-overdue transition from fossil fuel to less harmful renewable resources has begun.

The proper pace for those changes is open to discussion, and every reasonable step should be taken to minimize the economic effects on industries and consumers. But the standard operating procedure - ignoring the threats posed by greenhouse-gas emissions, and ignoring a ruling of the Supreme Court - isn't sustainable or wise. The EPA's ruling acknowledges that, as expected.