How does the EPA’s Announcement Affect Your Carbon Management Plan?
Friday, February 26, 2010On Monday (February 22) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that planned regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the authority of the Clean Air Act would be phased in over the next several years. As reported previously, the EPA’s proposed regulation of GHG emissions from large emitters was expected to take effect in 2010.
Since the EPA’s announcement in September, a number of legislators and business leaders have expressed concerns about the cost of complying with new regulations in a struggling economy. In response to these concerns, the EPA has decided to postpone the start of the regulation and take a phased approach to implementation. Starting in the first half of 2011, the largest GHG emitters who are already required to comply with other provisions of the Clean Air Act will be required to obtain a GHG permit by demonstrating that best practices and technologies are being used to minimize GHG emissions. Depending on the amount of GHG emitted, other large emitting organizations will be phased into the program between 2013 and 2016.
In addition to the delay in implementation, the EPA may also increase the GHG emission threshold used to determine whether an organization is required to obtain a GHG permit. This could significantly decrease the number of organizations that are required to obtain permits.
Impact to Your Organization:
Although the changes to the EPA’s proposed regulation will reduce the compliance burden for most large emitters of GHG, it is important to note that this announcement has no effect on the EPA Mandatory GHG Reporting rule or any other federal, state, or local GHG legislation. And, given the fact that the material risks from climate change are not limited to the direct impact from legislation and regulation, the EPA’s announcement should have little influence on an organization’s carbon management strategy.
The bottom line is that organizations should not interpret the EPA’s announcement as a devaluation of GHG reduction efforts. More than ever, organizations that manage energy use and GHG emissions today will have a competitive advantage over those that wait for regulation to compel action. [i=s] 本帖最后由 Jasmine 于 2010-3-6 02:15 编辑 [/i]
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