Marten Law Group: EPA Issues Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule; Monitoring To Begin January 1, 2010
“On September 22, 2009, EPA released final regulations that require approximately 10,000 facilities to report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. Covered facilities must begin monitoring January 1, 2010, and file their first annual reports by March 31, 2011,” writes Svend Brandt-Erichsen, a partner at Marten Law Group. “The reporting rule generally applies to facilities that emit more than 25,000 tons of GHG a year, although some sources with lower emissions also will be subject to the rule. EPA estimates that the reporting rule will cover about 85 percent of GHG emissions in the United States.”
The author explains that “EPA's final rule identifies 29 specific categories of covered sources, such as oil refineries, pulp and paper manufacturing, landfills, manure management, and producers of aluminum, cement, iron and steel, glass, and various chemicals, as well as a residual category for facilities with large stationary fuel burning sources. Sources in 15 of these categories will have to report their GHG emissions even if they do not exceed the generally applicable 25,000 ton threshold.”
In this article, Svend Brandt-Erichsen identifies the three groups of GHG sources that are subject to the rule and the hybrid approach to GHG monitoring that the EPA has adopted. He explains the reporting and retention of records requirements, how emissions will be verified, and the relationship between the EPA’s reporting rule and the similar programs of the various states. He concludes with a review of other pending EPA regulatory actions and a series of practice pointers.
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