 |
|||||
|
|||||
EPA Says CO2 Threshold Will be At Least 75,000 Tons per Year EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in March that the agency would set a threshold of 75,000 tons of annual CO2 emissions for initial regulation of stationary source emitters in 2011 and 2012.
The threshold could be adjusted upward, possibly as high as 100,000 tons per year. However, Jackson said the EPA may still require power plants and refineries that were permitted in 2009 and 2010 to apply for new permits.
The high threshold comes in response to warnings from state regulators that lower levels could trigger the need to regulate far more facilities than initially intended. Jackson said the adjustment had been made to help the administrative process, since states currently lack the resources to regulate a greater number of sources.
Two-thirds of the U.S.’s stationary source greenhouse gas emissions are from entities discharging more than 100,000 tons per year, said Jackson in a Senate appropriations hearing.
A lower threshold is something the agency might look at in a couple of years, Jackson told Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). . The possible plan to change the rules for projects currently in the middle of the permitting process was criticized by industry experts for its potential to delay projects already underway, reported Dow Jones. Other legislators believe that even this more moderate action represents a threat to the economy. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (D-Alaska) is spearheading a bipartisan effort to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. |
|||||
|
|||||
To sponsor Western Energy News, please contact WEI at 503 231-1994.
|
|||||
Copyright © 2010. Reuse of this publication or its contents is allowed with credit to Western Energy Institute. |
|||||