President Bush may have identified terrorism’s Axis of Evil in 2002, but it is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that has identified the atmosphere’s Axis of Climate Evil in 2009. In a proposed finding issued in mid-April, the EPA declared that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution and possibly pose a serious threat to public health and welfare. The six members of the Axis of Climate Evil — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride — were declared based on a “rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis by scientists around the world” that was ordered in 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The proposed endangerment finding states, “In both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem. The greenhouse gases that are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of the Clean Air Act.”

The analysis went so far to as to propose that climate change also has “serious national security implications.”

Sounds like trouble is on the horizon for these six. The HVACR industry may not have to worry too much about the six members of the Axis of Climate Evil, but it does need to concern itself with the climate change laws being proposed to combat them. The findings are for public comment and once the final findings have been issued, let the regulating process begin. No regulations were included in the current proposal, and of course, “Before taking any steps to reduce greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, EPA would conduct an appropriate process and consider stakeholder input.”

Can anyone figure out what the government means by “appropriate”?