EPA Sharpens Its Regulatory Teeth

Posted on Dec 24, 2010

Flickr / CaptainBuilder

Smoke belches from a power plant near Lansing, Mich. Power plants and refineries are major emitters of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that has been linked to global warming.

Though it was politically vague and took no immediate action, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it will put some regulatory pressure on power plants and oil refineries to limit greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2012. —JCL

The New York Times:

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a timetable on Thursday for issuing rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries, signaling a resolve to press ahead on such regulation even as it faces stiffening opposition in Congress.

The agency said it would propose performance standards for new and refurbished power plants next July, with final rules to be issued in May 2012. Proposed emissions standards for new oil refineries will be published next December, it said, with the final rules due in November 2012; rules for existing plants would come later.

But the E.P.A. was vague on how stringent the rules would be and how deep a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions would result.

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