This just in: Greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare. That probably sounds like old news to most folks. After all, we’ve known about global warming and its dangerous effects for years now (everything from pollution-related asthma to temperature-related outbreaks of disease).

But the obvious just became official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed “endangerment finding,” a document sent to the White House Friday. According to Reuters, labeling greenhouse gases a threat to human well-being could be the first step to regulating U.S. emissions. The potential to do so, however, has been there for a while. Back in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could regulate greenhouse gases — if it determined the pollutants threatened human health. While the agency’s scientists concluded that the gases did pose a risk, it kept mum with official findings until now.