Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The Environmental Protection Agency sent the White House its finding on greenhouse-gas pollution, seven months after the agency said the emissions from power plants and factories put the public at risk.

The so-called endangerment finding was forwarded to White House officials on Nov. 6, the EPA said today. A final ruling would clear the path for the Obama administration to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions that scientists say are contributing to climate change.

The EPA said in a statement that the move is the “next step” in the regulatory process, following a 60-day comment period and public hearings on its earlier proposal that the pollution poses a danger. Republican lawmakers failed in September in a bid to limit the EPA’s authority over greenhouse gases. Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, has said the administration is using the prospect of EPA rules as a “thinly veiled threat” to force the Senate to act on climate- change legislation.

A “cap-and-trade” measure, restricting U.S. carbon emissions and allowing companies to buy and sell the right to pollute, was approved by the U.S. House in June. Last week, Senate Democrats won committee approval of a cap-and-trade bill over the objection of Republican senators, who say that the legislation is being rushed.

The White House’s budget office has as many as 90 days to review the EPA’s proposal on endangerment.

The finding stems from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling. The court said the government could restrict heat-trapping gases under the Clean Air Act if it found them a danger to the public health and welfare, and it ordered the EPA to make a determination.

Former Republican President George W. Bush declined to act, passing on the issue to the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama.

Emissions Proposal

Obama’s EPA proposed on Sept. 30 that industrial sources that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year will be required to use the “best available control technologies and energy-efficiency measures” to cut carbon emissions when facilities are built or “significantly modified.”

The agency said it won’t target small sources because doing so would lead to “absurd results.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 17:26 EST