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After the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Monday declared greenhouse gases a danger to the public, construction groups said the decision could crush their already struggling industry.

If the EPA sets strict rules based on that finding, it could force every construction project to undergo a lengthy review under the Clean Air Act, said Brian Turmail, spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America.

“If you follow the logical conclusion that greenhouse-gas emissions are an endangerment, the next step is just like for any other emission EPA considers an endangerment: you have to get a waiver to work on it,” Turmail said.

“It is potentially a very frightening decision.”

Although Congress separately may address emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, the finding allows EPA to take action without waiting for a new law. It’s too soon to determine how the decision would affect any one industry, EPA officials said.

Asked whether she foresaw future construction projects needing to go through a Clean Air Act waiver process, EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn said, “I don’t think we can answer that at this point.”

“There is so much work to do in terms of regulatory planning,” said Paul Koprowski, EPA Region 10 liaison for Oregon. “What it’s all going to mean in the end, no one’s going to be able to say at this point.”

“This long-overdue finding cements 2009’s place in history as the year when the United States government began seriously addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in an announcement.

Cement industry officials, however, worry that the finding could undo some of their own clean-energy reforms. “The cement industry is front and center in the climate-change debate, since we’re such a significant emitter of greenhouse gases,” said Andy O’Hare, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Illinois-based Portland Cement Association.

A typical cement plant releases a ton of carbon dioxide for every ton of cement it produces, O’Hare said. That means each of the country’s 110 cement plants would fall under a regulation Jackson said would begin next spring.

If one of those plants expands or a new one is built, Jackson said, it would need to incorporate the “best available methods for controlling greenhouse-gas emissions.” While those methods aren’t defined, O’Hare worries that their cost would prevent plant operators from building facilities that are more efficient.

Spurred by increasing energy costs, 30 or 40 American cement plants have made their operations more efficient in the last few years, O’Hare said. “The cement industry was on a tear for upgrading their facilities to make them more efficient.

“What I’d hate to see happen now is to see this kind of rule-making process put the kibosh on these kinds of investments.”

Stricter rules could backfire if plant owners relocate to countries with looser emissions requirements, O’Hare said. “(If) these types of regulatory approaches are done in such a manner that they result in the dislocation of American cement producers … the end result is an increase in global greenhouse-gas emissions.”

Kevin Downing with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said he wasn’t sure what effects the EPA finding would have on construction sites. Any rules that address greenhouse-gas emissions instead of fuel sources could affect off-road diesel equipment along with cars, he said.

“Carbon dioxide is a result of combusting any carbon-based fuel, whether it’s gasoline or diesel,” Downing said.

Other economic sectors, including transportation and energy, emit far more greenhouse gases than construction projects, Downing said, and would be a likely first target.

In a statement, AGC Oregon-Columbia Chapter President Mike Salsgiver said he worried that the EPA decision does nothing to help local “Depression-like unemployment levels approaching 30 percent.” He urged the EPA to work with the national AGC to reduce the effects on the construction industry of rules stemming from the finding.

Construction projects represent a small portion of greenhouse-gas emissions but could be a huge portion of the reduction efforts, the national AGC’s Turmail said. Bogging down construction projects could hurt those efforts, he said.

“Even a small project, or a LEED platinum-certified office building would require an EPA permit,” Turmail said. “(And) how are you going to build renewable energy facilities if … the limited amount of carbon emitted in the process is going to require you to go through a 13-year permit process?”