Today the Environmental Protection Agency announced what may be the start of the road to a federal cap on greenhouse emissions: a greenhouse emissions registry that would require 13,000 facilities to report their emissions. The facilities – ones that produce 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions or more a year – include oil refineries, cement plants and motor vehicle manufacturers. If all goes well, EPA should have statistics by the year 2010, which could then provide the information needed to establish a federal cap on emissions.
It’s a measure that has been in the air for awhile now – George W. Bush originally drafted something of the sort. But the draft was rejected by the Office of Management and Budget. This new measure was originally written into a 2007 spending bill by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), reports the Washington Post.
The emissions to be reported in the registry extend beyond carbon dioxide. It also requires businesses to report emissions of methane.
>> Read more about cap-and-trade systems at Green Options
The Post says that the registry is meant to reduce the confusion that resulted in Europe’s cap-and-trade system. Because Europe didn’t have a registry, its handing out of pollution allowances was too lax, meaning the price of carbon fluctuated too much.
This proposal is the first of its kind in the United States, though 41 states already participate in a voluntary plan called The Climate Registry. With Obama talking about a market-based cap-and-trade system, if this federal one pulls through, it may actually finally be the start of the realization of that talk.
Photo Credit: freefotouk at Flickr under Creative Commons
[...] Environment Protection Agency has announced that the US government would maintain a registry of all carbon emissions produced from some 13,000 high polluting industries. Companies emitting more than 25,000 metric tonnes of carbon emissions yearly will be required to report to this registry. digg_url=”http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/03/11/us-to-have-a-national-climate-registry-will-india-china-follow/”;digg_title=”US to Have a National Climate Registry; Will India & China Follow?”;reddit_url=”http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/03/11/us-to-have-a-national-climate-registry-will-india-china-follow/”;reddit_title=”US to Have a National Climate Registry; Will India & China Follow?”;yahooBuzzShowBranding=0;yahooBuzzBadgeType=”square”;yahooBuzzArticleHeadline=”US to Have a National Climate Registry; Will India & China Follow?”;green_options321:http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/03/11/us-to-have-a-national-climate-registry-will-india-china-follow/ [...]