Gov. Gregoire�s statement on EPA finding

For Immediate Release: February 22, 2010

OLYMPIA � Gov. Chris Gregoire today released the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency�s endangerment finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health:

�In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act makes it incumbent upon the Environmental Protection Agency to determine if greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to public health and welfare. After a thorough review of the science and after assessing literally thousands of public comments, to include my own, on December 7, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed an endangerment finding, obligating her agency to take the reasonable steps necessary to reduce greenhouse gas pollutants.

�A majority of my colleagues and I � Democrats and Republicans, alike � have worked at the state and regional level to promote clean energy jobs, energy independence, and caps on greenhouse gas emissions. In the absence of comprehensive federal energy and climate legislation, EPA must be applauded for accepting the responsibility Congress has given it under the Clean Air Act to reduce carbon dioxide and other pollutants that threaten our people and our communities.�