Horrified by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?  5,000 barrels of dirty oil a day now polluting the waters only a few miles off the U.S. coast.  Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, has declared a State of Emergency, and the federal government is beginning to get involved in trying to stop the leak.  It’s an environmental catastrophe already and getting worse by the hour.  It’s unfortunate that we can’t declare the climate crisis as a “state of emergency”, because it is.

Some day these types of devastating spills will be impossible, because people will finally get fed up with them and they will learn more about climate change as it becomes more apparent.  Some day, there will be no more drilling for fossil fuels anywhere.  The U.S. EPA is ready to move on restricting CO2 emissions now, and that will reduce the use of fossil fuels and eventually stop it.  (that and a situation called “peak oil”)  The Obama administration is now taking a “wait and see” approach to offshore drilling, even after announcing that more offshore drilling was to be a part of our energy future.  (That is probably not likely at this point).

Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator

From the EPA Press Office –Statement of Lisa P. Jackson Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Legislative Hearing on Clean Energy Policies That Reduce Our Dependence on Oil, House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment

Released April 28, 2010–WASHINGTON – Chairmen Markey and Waxman, Ranking Members Upton and Barton, Chairman Emeritus Dingell, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify about the Environmental Protection Agency’s work to reduce America’s oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions. That work stems from two seminal events.

First, in April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in Massachusetts v. EPA that the Clean Air Act’s definition of air pollution includes greenhouse gases. The Court rejected then-Administrator Johnson’s refusal to determine whether that pollution from motor vehicles endangers public health or welfare.

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, and based on the best available science and EPA’s review of thousands of public comments, I found in December 2009 that motor-vehicle greenhouse gas emissions do endanger Americans’ health and welfare.

I am not alone in reaching that conclusion. Scientists at the 13 federal agencies that make up the U.S. Global Change Research Program have reported that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions pose significant risks to the wellbeing of the American public. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that the climate is changing, that the changes are mainly caused by human interference with the atmosphere, and that those changes will transform the environmental conditions on Earth unless counter-measures are taken.

The second pivotal event was the agreement President Obama announced [...]