EPA administrator applauds Fox News for becoming carbon-neutral

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson had kind words Wednesday for Fox News, whose parent-company announced this week that it is carbon-neutral.

Despite assertions by Republicans and many Fox News commentators that climate regulations will destroy the economy, Jackson said the effort by News Corp. to become carbon-neutral shows that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is "good for business."

“I do believe that this is good for business, good for our future,” Jackson said at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the agency's fiscal year 2012 budget request.

To make her point, Jackson laid out News Corp.'s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint in detail.

The company is “carbon neutral across their global operations and their projects pay for themselves in less than two years on average, and there are lighting retrofits and PC shutdowns, systemic changes like moving to video conferencing and carbon footprinting,” Jackson said.

Jackson came under fire from Republicans on the committee Wednesday, who argued that efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will impose major burdens on industry and kill jobs. But committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) countered that the regulations are essential for protecting human health.

This story was updated at 6:52 p.m.

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