Well ahead on key climate change moves by Obama administration

Reuters landed an exclusive interview on the Obama administration’s climate-change policy and was first with news of a big shift in official thinking on the dangers posed by greenhouse gases. In an April 14 interview with Nancy Sutley, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Reuters reported that the White House still hoped for a CO2 cap and trade bill to be sent to Obama for signing this year. This suggested the administration had not yet given up hope of starting carbon trading, despite mounting political obstacles. On April 17, Reuters had a large beat over Bloomberg on the Obama administration opening the way to regulating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by declaring climate-warming pollution a danger to human health and welfare — a sharp policy shift from the Bush administration. Reuters was 38 minutes ahead of Bloomberg when the decision was officially announced.