Yesterday's announcement by the EPA was terrific news for energy technology entrepreneurs. By issuing its findings that GHGs threaten public health (the result of an investigation obligated by the April 2007 Supreme Court decision - summary here), the EPA is now in a position to regulate GHG pollution. This is a huge chip for the Obama administration domestically as it pushes energy/climate legislation thru Congress and, more importantly, on the international stage, where President Obama now has the authority to negotiate long-term emissions targets at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. Expectations for any substantive agreement at Copenhagen had been vastly diminished over the last 6-9 months, but I now believe there is a good chance this announcement could ultimately prove to be a pivotal turning point. President Obama now has the "ace up the sleeve" needed to assume a leadership position at the conference and drive world leaders to take on climate change in earnest.
(As an aside I've been looking for this announcement since a lunch meeting in mid-November during which Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts pointed out - in response to a question about Obama's embarrassing lack of progress heading into Copenhagen - the importance of the EPA's decision and that it was likely to be issued on the eve of the summit).
Entrepreneurs need the support of long-term policies to tackle the problems of the world's carbon-based economy, given the scale involved. With this announcement I can now see a path for the US to lead the world in the fight against climate change. I am optimistic that, ten years from now, we will look back on this as the moment when this country's entrepreneurs finally received the long-term signal and support they needed to spark an energy tech revolution.
