U.S. EPA Announces Major New Greenhouse Gases Rule; European Union Questions American Progress on Emissions Reductions

Yesterday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the "Final Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule,", which requires large sources of greenhouse gas emissions to report emissions data.

Suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial greenhouse gases, facilities that emit more than 25,000 metric tons per year, and manufacturers of vehicles and engines fall under the rule's coverage. According to the EPA the "new reporting system will provide a better understanding of where GHGs are coming from and will guide development of the best possible policies and programs to reduce emissions."

The facilities involved emit about 85 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Under the rule, data collection will begin on January 1, 2010.

Does this mean the U.S. will at some point legislatively mandate greenhouse gas emissions reductions? Not exactly. What it does mean is that the U.S. federal government will know who is emitting what. The European Union, the only major governmental entity that has instituted a carbon emissions trading scheme, did not have a similar data collection system in place when the EU trading scheme took effect January 1, 2005. Some Europeans have pointed to this lack of data as a major error on the EU's part.

Despite the announcement, however, major figures in Europe are expressing concern about the lack of U.S. progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For example, an article in the Financial Times ("US-EU Rift Clouds Climate Summit," Sept. 22, 2009), quotes an unnamed European Commission source as saying, "So far, we thought the basic problem was the Chinese and the Indians. But now I think the problem appears to lie most clearly with the U.S."

The Obama-EU honeymoon is officially over. All men (and women) to their battle stations (in a manner of speaking of course).