new pollution rules for US

The Environmental Protection Agency in the US has ruled that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public safety.

The agency has announced the gases must be regulated if health risks are to be minimised.

The "endangerment" finding may now lead to court dictated regulations on carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases released from power plants, factories and automobiles under the federal Clean Air Act.

New rules will mean a ramping up of the manufacture of more fuel-efficient vehicles and also require industrial plants to install costly new equipment or switch to other forms of energy.

Energy prices for many Americans will probably rise substantially.

The EPA has said the evidence of health risks comes from compelling evidence collated by climate scientists.

EPA officials said last April that it viewed heat-trapping pollution as a threat to public health and welfare.

At the time, they took public comment on what was a complete reversal from the Bush administration, which had refused to issue the finding.

The Environmental Protection Agency findings have stimulated climate-control proponents at the international conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark.

It has signalled the the Obama administration will push ahead for significant controls in the US.