MB Civic

To the Editor:

Re “The Environmental Procrastination Agency,” by John Tierney (column, July 8):

The fact that some states are willing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions does not mean all are similarly inclined. Nor do greenhouse gas emissions simply stop at a state’s border.

The Environmental Protection Agency was created to develop national air and water pollution standards because many states were unwilling or unable to control pollution. Pollution travels. Midwest air pollution finds its way to the Northeast.

National tap water standards allow us to travel across the country and not worry about whether a particular state has a program to protect the water.

It is fanciful to think that all 50 states would choose to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. And if they did, would we really want businesses to have to comply with 30 or 40 different regulatory schemes?

To sensibly and cost-effectively address global warming, we need a national system. If the Supreme Court rejects the legal opinion the Clinton administration issued finding that the E.P.A. has authority to regulate carbon as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, then Congress should create a national system — one that builds on what the leading states and industries are doing and requires all states to regulate greenhouse gases equally.

Carol M. Browner
Washington, July 10, 2006
The writer was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 to 2001.