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Greenhouse Gas Regulation Arrives

By Daniel Stouffer

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 31Jul2010 Word count: 531 Viewed: 345 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The second week in May, 2010 was momentous for climate change protagonists as not only did Senators Kerry and Lieberman finally unveil their much vaunted climate legislation, but the EPA also announced their final rule in the process of greenhouse gas regulation at the federal level. The EPA is set to regulate emissions from the largest industrial facilities, as part of the overall reach of the Clean Air Act.

The Clean Air Act includes permitting requirements and greenhouse gas regulation that would kick in in January 2011, when the largest facilities are required to include greenhouse gases in their permitting allocations. As 2011 rolls out, these permitting requirements will be expanded and all facilities with greenhouse gas emissions of at least 100,000 tons per annum will be required to get permission before they can operate.

The second week in May, 2010 was momentous for climate change protagonists as not only did Senators Kerry and Lieberman finally unveil their much vaunted climate legislation, but the EPA also announced their final rule in the process of greenhouse gas regulation at the federal level. The EPA is set to regulate emissions from the largest industrial facilities, as part of the overall reach of the Clean Air Act.

Permits will only be allocated by the EPA under the greenhouse gas regulation rules if the facility in question can show that it has in place the best available mitigation and control technologies, in order to significantly reduce carbon emissions. These rules come around as a result of a determination made in 2009 that greenhouse gases are a danger to public health and welfare. This powerful finding paved the way for the implementation of thresholds and the stringent permitting requirements.

Not surprisingly, advocates and politicians are up in arms about the greenhouse gas regulation rule announced by the EPA. The announcement of the rule was largely overshadowed by the publicity given to the American Power Act proposal, the Senate version of a cap and trade program. Indeed, Sen. Kerry was at pains to point out that unless senators accept legislation, regulators at the EPA would move in instead.

Detractors aim to squash the EPA's greenhouse gas regulation if at all possible. Politicians from the Republican Party have already said that they will challenge the proposals of the Clean Air Act in court, as they fully expect that this type of legislation will extend to cover businesses large and small in the future.

EPA fully believes that it has a mandate to regulate under the Clean Air Act and indeed is required to address greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources as it has already addressed such emissions from non-stationary sources. At the beginning of 2011, vehicles are expected to adhere to strict emissions standards as part of this process.

Through 2011, approximately 1500 organizations or sources could be required to obtain or add to their permits to cover their regulated greenhouse gas emissions.

It would appear that the fight is on, according to your particular viewpoint, to pass either the American Power Act, or to address the implications contained within the EPA's greenhouse gas regulation rule. One way or the other, it seems that in 2011 carbon emissions in the United States will be much more intensively regulated.

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