Dec 02 2008

A Modest Proposal for EPA

A broad coalition of utilities and energy producers (including PG&E Corporation), energy consumers (American Honda, 3M) and Environmental Defense Fund today issued a broad set of suggested principles to guide the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the Bush administration, EPA has staunchly resisted issuing any such regulations. The incoming Obama administration will surely adopt a new approach, taking advantage of the Supreme Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which opened the door to the agency acting if it finds that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare.

The coalition's proposed principles at first glance seem commonplace. They call for EPA to root its decisions in science, consult closely with Congress, work with state and local governments, emphasize measures that are cost-effective, and give firms credit for taking early voluntary action to reduce emissions.

What's remarkable on second take is how little some of these principles appear to have governed EPA's decision making over the past eight years. The Obama administration and Congress will have their hands full reviewing EPA's rules and rulemaking procedures--if this recent story from the Washington Post is any indication:

The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA's 10 regional administrators formally dissented from the decision and four others criticized the move in writing.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

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Climate Change , Environment

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  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
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  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
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  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
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