OK everyone, take a deep breath...and hold it

The Obama administration will formally declare Monday that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to the public's health and welfare, a move that lays the groundwork for an economy-wide carbon cap even if Congress fails to enact climate legislation, sources familiar with the process said.

The move, which Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson will announce at an afternoon press conference, comes as the largest climate change conference in history gets underway in Copenhagen. It will finalize an initial "endangerment finding" by the government in April.

While an EPA spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter, the agency sent out a press advisory that Jackson will make "a significant climate announcement at a press briefing" at 1:15 p.m. at EPA headquarters. Jackson also will speak at the U.N.-sponsored climate conference Wednesday; her address is titled "Taking Action at Home." President Obama, who will attend the end of the U.N. talks Dec. 18, has sent a series of recent signals to the international community that the United States will curb its carbon output as part of a new global climate deal.

The endangerment finding stems from a 2007 Supreme Court decision in which the court ordered the EPA to determine whether greenhouse gases qualify as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. It could trigger a series of federal regulations affecting polluters, from vehicles to coal-fired power plants.

The regs could affect a lot more than that.

"An endangerment finding from the EPA could result in a top-down command-and-control regime that will choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project," Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. "The devil will be in the details, and we look forward to working with the government to ensure we don't stifle our economic recovery." 

The potential to control economic activity by executive fiat is huge. In effect, any president will be able to regulate economic activity to a degree that is unprecedented in American history. All because the politically motivated EPA has determined that CO2 is bad for your health.

And note our brave and true Chamber of Commerce getting on board the green bandwagon. Don't worry. Large corporations will shape the regs to fit their needs while leaving small business in the lurch. This seems to be a pattern repeating itself as Obama's far left agenda is being if not supported, then certainly shaped by Fortune 500 companies who figure it's better to get along and go along rather than fight. We are seeing it with new banking regs, new financial services regs, and now the new CO2 regs (watch them assist Obama with regulations on national health care too).

Republicans can do little to stop this power grab by the executive. And forget the Supreme Court. They were the ones who enabled this monstrosity in the first place.

How long before the government regulates your breathing?

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky