Next100 - A Dialogue on the Next Century of Energy

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.

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