The riddle of EPA's reluctance to consider soot a contributor to global warming has befuddled me since I read this story, which I thought made a solid case:
While carbon dioxide may be the No. 1 contributor to rising global temperatures, scientists say, black carbon has emerged as an important No. 2, with recent studies estimating that it is responsible for 18 percent of the planet's warming, compared with 40 percent for carbon dioxide.
Then my confusion deepened when this odd pairing of politicians called attention to black carbon's linkage to climate change. As Roger Pielke Jr., wonders:
So if the science is robust and the political will is there, why would EPA steer away from black carbon as an "easy win" on climate change?
Pielke guesses that EPA has "painted itself into a corner" with its recent global warming endangerment finding:
If black carbon is a pollutant due to ...
