Fox News reports that a top White House economic official warned:
"If you don't pass this legislation, then … the EPA is going to have to regulate in this area. And it is not going to be able to regulate on a market-based way, so it's going to have to regulate in a command-and-control way, which will probably generate even more uncertainty."
True enough, but under the Clean Air Act, rulemaking is an exhaustive, time-consuming process. Consider what would have to happen before the EPA could regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
- The agency would, at a minimum, have to determine what control technologies are available and which are most cost effective.
- It would have to determine which source categories should be regulated and how.
- It would have to write the regulations.
- The EPA would have to require each state to implement some version of the new regulations into its State Implementation Plan.
And, every step of the way, the agency would have to seek public comment, respond to public comment, hold meetings with stake holder groups, determine economic impacts and worry about legal challenges.
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