US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced a proposed rule to end the agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), which he says will save American businesses up to $2.4 billion in regulatory costs over 10 years while maintaining the agency’s statutory obligations under the Clean Air Act (CAA).
“The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality,” Zeldin said.
If finalized, the proposal would remove reporting obligations for most large facilities, all fuel and industrial gas suppliers, and carbon dioxide injection sites.
The GHGRP requires 47 source categories, covering over 8,000 facilities and suppliers in the US, to calculate and submit their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting annually. The EPA has proposed that CAA Section 114(a) does not require the collection of GHG emission information from businesses; therefore, the EPA is proposing the removal of all GHG reporting requirements for sectors other than the petroleum and natural gas source category (Subpart W) segments subject to the Waste Emissions Charge (WEC).
Currently, the GHGRP requires reporting of GHG data and other relevant information from large GHG emission sources, fuel and industrial gas suppliers, and CO2 injection sites in the US. Approximately 8,000 facilities are required to report their emissions annually, and the reported data are made available to the public in October of each year.
The EPA said it will hold a virtual public hearing for the proposal on 1 October, 15 days after publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, which was 16 September. Further details about the public hearing, including registration, will be available at www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/rulemaking-notices-ghg-reporting. The EPA also will be accepting comments on the proposal at www.regullations.gov until 4 November, 47 days after the proposal was published in the Federal Register.