EPA Plan Would Halt Emissions Reporting Until 2034

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed ending greenhouse gas reporting requirements for thousands of coal-fired power plants, oil refineries, steel mills, and other industrial facilities nationwide.

The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, launched in 2010 under the Obama administration, requires thousands of facilities to file annual emissions reports. Ending it, the EPA said in a news release, would save businesses up to $2.4 billion in regulatory costs while still meeting the agency's obligations under the Clean Air Act.

The program covers 47 source categories and more than 8,000 facilities. The EPA said the reporting is not required by law and no longer serves a purpose. The only exception is the Waste Emissions Charge, a methane fee aimed at the oil and gas industry, but Congress and President Donald Trump delayed it until 2034. That means the EPA will stop collecting greenhouse gas data altogether until that year.

"Alongside President Trump, EPA continues to live up to the promise of unleashing energy dominance that powers the American Dream," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the news release. "The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality. Instead, it costs American businesses and manufacturing billions of dollars, driving up the cost of living, jeopardizing our nation's prosperity and hurting American communities.

"With this proposal, we show once again that fulfilling EPA's statutory obligations and Powering the Great American Comeback is not a binary choice."

The EPA said it will open a public comment period before finalizing the rule.

Dustin Meyer, senior vice president of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs for the American Petroleum Institute, applauded the EPA's decision in a statement to Newsmax.

"The oil and natural gas industry has a long track record of reporting greenhouse gas emissions to a variety of stakeholders, and we remain committed to doing so in a transparent and accurate way," Meyer said. "We will continue advancing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while delivering the affordable, reliable energy Americans need."

The Sierra Club said Friday in a news release it is the latest in a series of actions by the EPA "to systematically dismantle, delay, or undermine the many climate and clean-air standards that safeguard the health and well-being of families and communities."

"EPA cannot avoid the climate crisis by simply burying its head in the sand as it baselessly cuts off its main source of greenhouse gas emissions data," said Patrick Drupp, the Sierra Club's director of Climate Policy and Advocacy. "The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program has been a major success for more than 15 years, providing incredibly useful emission data without any real drawbacks to affected companies.

"The agency has provided no defensible reason to cancel the program; this is nothing more than EPA's latest action to deny the reality of climate change and do everything it can to put the fossil fuel industry and corporate polluters before people. The Sierra Club will oppose this proposal every step of the way."