Feb 18, 2009, 9:58 GMT
Washington - The United States launched a review Tuesday of whether to regulate the carbon dioxide emissions of coal-fired power plants, the country's single largest source of energy, signalling another shift in climate policy by President Barack Obama.
The review by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could overturn a policy adopted in the waning weeks of former president George W Bush's administration and comes in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against Bush's policy.
Former EPA head Stephen Johnson issued a memo in December that effectively barred the government from limiting coal plants' carbon dioxide emissions, a chief source of global warming.
The EPA in a statement said it would 'vigorously review the Johnson memo to ensure that it is consistent with the Obama administration's climate change strategy.'
The Bush administration opposed mandatory limits on climate- damaging emissions and frequently clashed with environmentalists over whether the government had a duty to limit pollution according to existing clean air laws.
Obama supports legislation making its way through Congress that would force companies to pay for pollutants that impact global warming, but he has indicated the EPA may impose its own limits even before Congress acts.
'With coal-fired power plants emitting more than 30 per cent of our global warming pollution, regulating their carbon dioxide is essential to making real progress in the fight against global warming,' said David Bookbinder of the Sierra Club.
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups said they would halt their litigation against the EPA as a result of Tuesday's decision.
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