EPA Moving Forward with Emissions-Cap Regulations

The Environmental Protection Agency has not yet said how it intends to require heavy trucks to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but a report on the agency’s Web site projects that an advanced notice of rulemaking could be posted as early as June.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson indicated Tuesday that stalled cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate will not deter the agency from moving forward with its plans to require that beginning in 2011 large stationary emitters file permit applications that address ways they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

American Trucking Associations has opposed cap-and-trade because the group says such legislation would cause a spike in diesel prices as oil producers pass on to end users the cost of curbing their emissions.

Jackson outlined her plans, which include a year-long delay, in a letter responding to written questions posed by several coal-state senators who have been seeking a moratorium on EPA’s plans to finalize two rules that will regulate greenhouse gas emissions for primarily large sources like power plants and oil refineries.

“I share your goals of ensuring economic recovery at this critical time and of addressing greenhouse gas emissions in sensible ways that are consistent with the call for comprehensive energy and climate legislation,” Jackson wrote in a letter dated Monday.

Jackson said that while large greenhouse gas emitters will be required to seek emissions permits in 2011, small emitters will not be phased in until 2016.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also is considering a greenhouse gas emissions rulemaking later this year, but is first awaiting recommendations contained in a diesel fuel efficiency study by the National Academy of Sciences scheduled for completion later this month.

By Eric Miller

Staff Reporter