EPA planning greenhouse gas regs
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will propose its first standards to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and refineries.
Aimed at reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that accepted science says cause climate change, the federal standards are scheduled to be proposed in July 2011 and finalized in May 2012 for power plants, and proposed in December 2011 and finalized in November 2012 for refineries.
The schedule is part of consent agreements that settle lawsuits brought by several states, local governments and environmental organizations over EPA's failure to control greenhouse gases from coal-burning power plants and oil refineries that emit about 40 percent of all greenhouse gases in the United States.
In announcing the schedule, Gina McCarthy, EPA assistant administrator for air and radiation, repeatedly emphasized the agency's "flexible and reasonable" approach and its desire to make the controls cost-effective for the utility and refining industries.
She said the EPA will set performance standards for new and modified facilities and give states authority to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing facilities.
"We will be looking at greenhouse gas reductions that are achievable and measurable using cost-effective technology," Ms. McCarthy said.
But greenhouse gas emissions reductions from existing power plants and refineries probably won't be phased in until 2015-2016, she said.
There are more than 500 coal-burning and oil-burning power plants in the U.S. that emit about 2.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually. The nation's 150 refineries emit about 205 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
Greenhouse gases trap the sun's heat, abnormally warming the atmosphere. Scientists say that leads to extreme weather conditions, changes in climate and melting polar ice and glaciers with a resultant rise in sea levels.
Ms. McCarthy said beginning Jan. 2, industries that are big emitters of greenhouse gases -- utilities, refineries, cement production plants -- will be required to include strategies limiting those emissions when seeking air permits to build new facilities or make major modifications of existing facilities.
The EPA also issued final rules clearing the way for states to issue permits covering greenhouse-gas emissions that are consistent with the eventual federal standards.
First Published December 24, 2010 12:00 am
