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US moving to mandatory GHG reporting

Canada risks being left behind as the US moves aggressively towards a reduced carbon future.  In addition to the cap and trade bill introduced into Congress, the US EPA has released its proposed rule for the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from large sources across the US economy.

EPA proposes that suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial greenhouse gases, manufacturers of vehicles and engines, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tonnes or more per year of GHG emissions must submit annual reports to EPA. This is roughly equivalent to the energy use of  2200 homes and will include large farms with manure management systems. Facilities with total stationary fuel combustion units less than 30 million BTUs would be exempt. The EPA seeking public comment on whether large fleet operators should report. (Since 2004,  Canada has collected similar information from 350 of our largest industrial facilities, those that emit more than 100,000 metric tonnes/ year. We don’t collect such information from  smaller facilities, from suppliers of fossil fuels or from manufacturers of vehicles or engines. The new US rule will be far more comprehensive and cover a much greater share of the economy.)

The gases covered by the proposed EPA rule are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and other fluorinated gases including nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and hydrofluorinated ethers (HFE).

The proposed rule was signed by the EPA Administrator on March 10, 2009. On April 10, 2009. the proposed rule was published in the Federal Register (www.regulations.gov) under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0508:

In addition, technical analyses developed in support of the proposed rule may be found:

A public comment period is open until June 9, 2009.

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