Process of Regulating Greenhouse Gases

Climate: The EPA Begins the Process of Regulating Greenhouse Gases

December 23, 2010 - With the failure of carbon cap-and-trade legislation this year, and a passel of Republicans taking over the House who seem to doubt that global warming exists, Congress has become a dead-end for fighting greenhouse gas emissions. But the Supreme Court has given the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and now—with some prodding from green groups—the agency is gearing up to do just that. Today the EPA announced that it would issue what it calls "modest" sets of performance standards for two major emitting sectors—power plants and refineries—which are together responsible for just under 40% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions. The rules for power plants have to be proposed by July 2011 and finalized by May 2012, while standards for refineries need to be released by December 2011 and finalized by November 2012. {continued}