EPA decides it doesn't want companies to report greenhouse gases
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EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in August. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The EPA on Friday formally proposed ending longtime requirements for many polluters to collect and report emissions of heat-trapping gases responsible for climate change.
Why it matters: Democrats and environmentalists widely condemned ending the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program when the agency announced earlier this year it was considering doing so.
- The 15-year-old program requires reporting of carbon dioxide, methane and other emissions data from about 8,000 facilities.
Driving the news: EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the program "nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality."
- "Instead, it costs American businesses and manufacturing billions of dollars, driving up the cost of living, jeopardizing our nation's prosperity and hurting American communities," Zeldin said in a statement.
- The agency said it would propose to end reporting requirements in more than 40 different sectors, including electricity generation, iron and steel production and petroleum refineries.
- It also said it would propose to suspend until 2034 reporting requirements for onshore and offshore petroleum and natural gas production, onshore natural gas processing and transmission pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage.
The agency said the proposed action would save $303 million per year from 2025 to 2033.
The other side: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said data from the program serves as the "de facto standard" for many companies' climate disclosures.
- Curbing it "prioritizes polluter interests over the international competitiveness of the American steel, aluminum, fertilizer, cement, and chemicals industries, to name but a few," Whitehouse, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's ranking Democrat, said in May.
- The Carbon Capture Coalition warned that the move "endangers billions of dollars in investments from American businesses" because it would complicate access to a tax credit for companies that seek to capture the greenhouse gas.
- "It is not an understatement that the long-term success of the carbon management industry—and the significant economic and environmental benefits it fosters across the country—rests on the robust reporting mechanisms in place through the U.S. EPA," said the coalition, an alliance of businesses, labor unions and environmental groups.
What's next: The agency will begin a public comment period, with litigation likely if the rule is finalized.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with reaction from the Carbon Capture Coalition.
