Posted on April 14, 2009 by Mary Ellen Ternes
While we wait for EPA’s GHG Endangerment Assessment and new GHG legislation, the EPA’s proposed mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting rule was published in the Federal Register, at Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases, proposed rule, 68 Fed. Reg. 16448 (April 10, 2008).
This proposed rule would require calculation and reporting of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH3), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) in carbon dioxide equivalents by most major industrial and commercial sources of these gases with CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions over 25,000 tons per year.
The sources covered by the proposed rule range from cement production to food processing, landfills to pulp and paper manufacturing. The rule also specifically requires separate reporting by suppliers of coal and coal-based liquid fuels, petroleum products, natural gas, natural gas liquids and industrial GHGs and manufacturers of vehicles and engines. Compliance with the proposed rule would appear to be challenging for those sources which emit hard to quantify, or never before quantified, fugitive emissions of GHGs. The proposed rule contemplates reporting by approximately 13,000 facilities, with the first annual report due in 2011 for the calendar year 2010. EPA states that the reporting methods were built upon preexisting voluntary programs such as the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory and The Climate Registry.
There is a second public hearing on the proposed rule on April 16, 2009, at the Sacramento Convention Center, Sacramento, CA. More information is provided here.
Tags: Air