EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin makes a water coverage announcement and holds a signing ceremony with members of the West Virginia Congressional Delegation on the EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., Feb. 18, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Friday a rule to end a mandatory program requiring 8,000 services to report their greenhouse gas emissions – an effort the company mentioned was burdensome to enterprise, however which leaves the general public with out transparency across the environmental affect of these sources.
The company mentioned mandatory assortment of GHG emissions knowledge was pointless as a result of it’s “not directly related to a potential regulation and has no material impact on improving human health and the environment.”
The rule responds to a day-one govt order issued by President Donald Trump geared toward eradicating boundaries to unleashing extra U.S. vitality, significantly fossil fuels. It is the most recent in a collection of main regulatory rollbacks undoing earlier U.S. efforts to fight local weather change.
Earlier this summer time, the EPA introduced plans to repeal the “endangerment finding” that enabled the company to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from autos and stationary sources.
If finalized, the proposal would take away reporting obligations for many massive services, all gasoline and industrial gas suppliers, and CO2 injection websites.
The Trump administration has additionally mentioned it will withdraw the U.S. from the Paris local weather settlement, which requires international locations to scale back their greenhouse gas emissions and report their progress.
“The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality,” mentioned EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
The Trump administration has additionally taken steps to end the gathering of key environmental databases on the EPA, in addition to different federal businesses just like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and end greenhouse gas-monitoring satellites operated by NASA.
The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program requires 47 supply classes masking 8,000 services and suppliers, together with energy vegetation, refineries, chemical vegetation, and fossil gasoline/industrial gas suppliers, to calculate and submit their greenhouse gas emissions yearly. The program additionally covers CO2 injection websites.
The company will nonetheless require submission of methane emissions knowledge for big oil and gas operations for corporations topic to a waste emissions cost.
The carbon seize and storage trade, which is supported by the Trump administration, mentioned the proposal will undermine an rising expertise backed by trade.
“This announcement from EPA will not advance carbon storage – something Administrator Zeldin has publicly supported,” mentioned Jessie Stolark, govt director of the Carbon Capture Coalition. “This proposed rule endangers millions of dollars in investments from American businesses in these technologies.”