The American Pundit

I missed this morning’s findings from the memo that identified the negative impact that greenhouse gas limits will have on the economy, but this appears to be equally or more important. According to The Hill, the EPA memo questions the recent findings by the same agency that claimed that greenhouse gases are harmful to humans.

An EPA finding last month that greenhouse gases are a danger to public health rests on dubious assumptions and could have negative economic impacts, a memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) warned.

The memo has no listed author but is marked “Deliberative–Attorney Client Privilege.” A spokesman for OMB told Dow Jones Newswires that the brief is a “conglomeration of counsel we’ve received from various agencies” about the EPA finding, the conclusions of which would trigger regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The author(s) of the memo suggest the EPA did not thoroughly examine the relationship between greenhouse gases and human health.

“In the absence of a strong statement of the standards being applied in this decision, there is concern that EPA is making a finding based on…’harm’ from substances that have no demonstrated direct health effects,” the memo says, adding that the “scientific data that purports to conclusively establish” that link was from outside EPA.

But wait. The memo actually goes further, stating that anthropogenic global warming may actually be beneficial — not malignant.

Finally, in language sure to anger climate change activists, the memo questions whether climate change might bring benefits that would mitigate the costs.

“To the extent that climate change alters out environment, it will create incentives for innovation and adaption that mitigate the damages,” the memo reads. “The [EPA finding] should note this possibility[.] … It might be reasonable to conclude that Alaska will benefit from warmer winters for both health and economic reasons,” the authors note.

This probably isn’t the best news the Obama Administration and its environmental allies have received this year. It runs the risk of seriously kneecapping attempts to pass cap-and-trade, as Republicans and many Democrats whose constituencies will be harmed by the hit on the economy will seize on the report to fight off such attempts at regulation.

Via Hot Air.