Bush attaches conditions on court's EPA ruling

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, acknowledging that humans are at least partly responsible for global warming, said Tuesday that he took "very seriously" the Supreme Court's ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles as pollution.

But he attached two conditions that appeared likely to retard EPA regulation of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat at the Earth's surface: He said any regulatory program should not slow economic growth, nor should its benefits to the atmosphere be offset by mounting emissions from China, India and other growing economies.

Bush's stance sets up a potential conflict with the Democratic Congress, which has been laying the groundwork for tougher regulation of greenhouse gases.

"The president still doesn't get it," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement.

She said his legislative proposal to encourage cleaner automobile fuels would actually result in greater emissions of greenhouse gases. This is because Bush has proposed a program of liquefying coal for use in automobiles -- a process that releases substantial amounts of carbon dioxide.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled Monday that the EPA was required by law to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as pollutants. The administration, siding with automakers, had argued that carbon dioxide was not a pollutant as defined by the Clean Air Act, but the court held that it was merely a different kind of pollutant.

Asked about the decision at a Rose Garden news conference, Bush said, "I have said that it is a serious problem. I recognize that man is contributing greenhouse gases."

But solving the problem, he said, must not cut into economic growth.

"It's going to require new technologies, which tend to be expensive, and it's easier to afford expensive technologies if you're prosperous," he said.

Bush also said China and India must get on board the international effort to combat global warming.

"Unless there is an accord with China," he said, "China will produce greenhouse gases that will offset anything we do in a brief period of time."

Boxer jumped on that remark.

"I find it offensive that the president is still using China as an excuse to do nothing when the U.S. has always been a leader in environmental protection," she said.

Boxer said she would summon EPA officials before her committee in April to explain how they planned to follow the Supreme Court ruling. Her goal, she said, was passage of "the strongest possible global warming legislation."

EPA spokesmen said Tuesday that it was too early to respond to the court decision.

Two House committees have also expressed an interest in global warming legislation. A subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, whose chairman is Rep. John D. Dingell, a Democrat whose Michigan district is home to much of the auto industry, has already held 10 hearings on the subject.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is also interested in the issue, but he has not yet formulated an action plan.

The auto industry, the principal target of the Supreme Court ruling, reacted guardedly to the decision and Bush's response to it.

Dave McCurdy, chairman and chief executive officer of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a statement that "there needs to be a national, federal, economy-wide approach to addressing greenhouse gases. This decision says that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be part of this process."

The alliance emphasized the importance of building more fuel-efficient cars because vehicles that use less fuel produce less carbon dioxide.