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EPA's New Mandatory Reporting Requirements For Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Michael Forlini | Dec 1, 2009

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Starting on January 1, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require large emitters of heat-trapping emissions to collect greenhouse gas (GHG) emission data under a new reporting system. These large emitters include fossil fuel suppliers and industrial gas suppliers, direct greenhouse gas emitters and manufacturers of heavy duty and off road vehicles and engines. It is expected that this mandatory reporting requirement will cover approximately 85 percent of the nation's GHG emissions and apply to approximately 10,000 facilities.

The intent of this final rule is not to control or limit greenhouse gas emissions, but to better understand where GHGs are coming from. It is expected that this data will guide development of the best possible policies and programs to reduce emissions. The data will also allow businesses to track their own emissions, compare them to similar facilities, and provide assistance in identifying cost effective ways to reduce emissions in the future. The first annual reports will cover calendar year 2010, and will be required for submittal to EPA in 2011.

Under the rule, suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial greenhouse gases, manufacturers of vehicles and engines, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of GHG emissions (based on a 25,000 metric tons of CO2e equivalent per year) are required to submit annual reports to EPA. The gases covered in this 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) (as defined in 40 CFR Part 98, Subpart A). Reporting is at the facility level, however certain suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial gases will report at a corporate level. This final rule was promulgated on October 30, 2009. This final rule is lengthy with over 250 pages of text.

This rule's preamble contains seven sections and consist of over 100 pages in length. The first section describes the origin of the rule, legal authority and how this rule relates to Federal, state and regional efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions. The second section summarizes the general provisions of the rule and identifies major changes form the proposed rule. The third section identifies individual sources that were considered in the proposal as well as the sources affected b y this rule. The fourth section of the preamble contains the rule requirements and addresses public comments pertaining to mobile sources. EPA’s plans to collect, manage and disseminate the data is described in the fifth section of the preamble, while the sixth section describes the approach to compliance and enforcement. Bothe the fifth and sixth section of the preamble contain key public comments and EPA’s responses. The final section of the preamble discusses the various statutory authority and executive order requirements associated with his final rulemaking.

Basically EPA has promulgated this rule under sections 114 and 208 of the Clean Air Act. In addition, the Consolidated Appropriations Act signed on December 26, 2007 authorized EPA funding to promulgate a final rule that requires mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. The initial proposed rule hit the streets on April 10, 2009.

Although the public comment period ended on June 9, 2009, EPA received approximately 16,800 written comments. In addition EPA held two public hearings, and conducted an open door policy to discuss the proposed rule. EPA met with over 4,000 people and 135 groups. Details on these meetings are available in the rule’s docket (EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0508). ·

Facilities that must submit annual GHG reports are defined in 40 CFR part 98, subparts C through JJ, and include the following facility activities:
· Electricity generating facilities that are subject to the Acid Rain program
· Adipic acid production
· Aluminum production
· Ammonia manufacturing
· Cement production
· HCFC-22 production
· HCFC -23 destruction process
· Lime manufacturing
· Nitric acid production
· Petroleum production
· Petroleum refineries
· Phosphoric acid production
· Silicon carbide production
· Soda ash production
· Titanium dioxide production
· Municipal solid waste landfill that generate methane in the amounts equivalent of 25,000 metric tons of CO2e or more per year
· Manure management systems that emit methane and nitrous oxide (combined) in amounts equivalent to 25,000 metric tons of CO2e or more per year.

For more information on any facility that contains a source category, see 40 CFR Part 98, Subparts C through JJ. For more information on the Mandatory reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule, visit http://epa.gov/climatechange/index.html

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