EPA Should Avoid Regulating Carbon Dioxide Emissions

By Ben Lieberman
Heritage Foundation

Critics of big government focus most of their attention on soaring federal budgets and the endless stream of new legislation that would further increase spending and taxes. Often overlooked is the trillion-dollar annual cost of compliance with federal regulations. Like the federal budget, this regulatory burden continues to increase and usually accelerates during the final year of an Administration.

The most worrisome regulation now under consideration is a declaration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles endanger public health. The so-called endangerment finding would spark many costly measures with the potential to harm the U.S. economy and intrude on citizens' daily activities. The EPA should refrain from initiating any regulation that would jump ahead of Congress on global warming.

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