Posted on 12/22/2010 1:20:53 PM PST by neverdem
The Obama administration is expected to roll out a major greenhouse gas policy for power plants and refineries as soon as Wednesday, signaling it won’t back off its push to fight climate change in the face of mounting opposition on Capitol Hill.
The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to a schedule for setting greenhouse gas emission limits, known as “performance standards,” for the nation’s two biggest carbon-emitting industries, POLITICO has learned.
Under the schedule agreed to by EPA, states and environmental groups, the agency will issue a draft greenhouse gas performance standard for power plants by July 2011 and a final rule by May 2012. The agreement – which comes after states and environmentalists challenged the George W. Bush administration’s failure to set the standards – requires EPA to issue a draft limit for refineries by Dec. 2011 and a final rule by Nov. 2012.
The White House Office of Management and Budget has signed off on the schedule, according to a litigant in the legal fight.
The standards are part of a series of climate rules from the Obama administration that have faced fierce opposition from industry groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And while the policies won’t go final for more than a year, the political ramifications will come immediately.
They will come as welcome news to environmentalists who want the administration to flex its regulatory muscle following the death of climate legislation this year, but EPA can expect its foes on the right to blast the move as another example of regulatory overreach.
GOP lawmakers slated to claim the gavels of powerful House committees next year have already vowed to launch probes into a host of EPA regulations – including the administration’s suite of climate change rules – arguing that the regulations will further damage the already ailing economy.
Starting Jan. 2, EPA will begin regulating large stationary sources of the heat-trapping emissions, but those requirements only apply to new and upgraded facilities and will be determined on a case-by-case basis, so it’s unclear how deeply they will slash emissions. The forthcoming standards would set industry-specific standards and could require some of the oldest, dirtiest facilities to clamp down on carbon dioxide.
The agreement doesn’t specify what type of requirements EPA will impose on the industries, but environmentalists say the rules have the potential to require substantial emission reductions in existing facilities while offering industry the type of regulatory certainty it’s been calling for.
EPA’s schedule could also likely impact a high-profile climate lawsuit pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case American Electric Power v. Connecticut, power companies are challenging a lower court ruling that allowed states and environmental groups to move ahead with a public nuisance lawsuit seeking to force the utilities to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama administration attorneys asked the court in August to vacate the appeals court's judgment, arguing that in part that EPA was already moving forward with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which undercut the need for nuisance lawsuits. The attorneys said EPA was “evaluating” whether to include greenhouse gases in performance standards.
States and environmental groups involved in the case argued that EPA’s evaluation wasn’t good enough because the agency hasn’t formally taken action to limit emissions from existing sources. However, they said their claims for relief under nuisance lawsuits would be displaced if such rules were finalized.
It’s unclear how EPA’s announced schedule will affect the Supreme Court case, which is expected to be argued before the rules go final.
EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said, "We have nothing to announce at this time. But as we have made clear any regulatory decisions will be guided by sound science and stakeholder input, and encourage deployment of clean technology, while cutting greenhouse gas pollution and providing certainty to key industries in this country."
Repeal the law, the problem ceases to exist.
Well then what do you do with a few thousand RIFed EPA employees?
See it isn’t that easy. These are our fellow citizens no matter how you look at it the Congress isn’t going to toss them on the street.
[Is this more evidence of the belief that Obama will NOT moderate in order to win reelection?]
Obama doesn’t have to moderate. He just needs the media to say that he has. It will be business as usual, and Obama plans to bulldoze the GOP who showed weakness in the lame duck session. He was cowered for a moment after the 2010 election, but the GOP let him off the mat. Now he will be even more emboldened. Just watch. The media’s reporting will be completely detached from reality. The media and the Obama administration will say one thing, and reality will be something completely different. Americans, for the most part, will go on as business as usual. They will be manipulated and lied to and Obama will be re-elected.
It’s NOT just the economy we must be of concern in this overeaching by the Leftists, but the precedent setting looney science they are promoting.
Look at the trouble we are in today because we DID NOT address their looney science back when they promoted the environmental agenda.
Could be, but I hope you’re wrong.
Gasshog: “Well then what do you do with a few thousand RIFed EPA employees?
See it isn’t that easy. These are our fellow citizens no matter how you look at it the Congress isn’t going to toss them on the street.”
I see it a bit differently. There are thousands upon thousands of privately employed fellow citizens who have lost and who will lose their jobs directly due to the consequences of actions of some of these federal/state “regulatory” agencies, especially including the EPA. Perhaps it’s time to save all those private jobs by eliminating a few thousand in the federal bureaucracy (EPA would be a good start).
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