The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed its intentions to introduce limits on the country’s largest emitters after winning its battle in the Court of Appeals.
A statement earlier this week said that the Agency would not be revising its greenhouse gas permitting thresholds under the Clean Air Act, which it describes as a “common-sense, phased-in approach”.
The current threshold for regulation of at least 100,000 tons per year (tpy) of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) covers the nation’s largest power plants and industrial facilities, which account for nearly 70% of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources.
New facilities that emit over 100,000 tpy will have to obtain what are known as Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits from the EPA, or if existing facilities increase their emissions by at least 75,000 tpy. Both new and existing facilities that emit more than 100,000 tpy will also have to obtain separate operating permits.
But the EPA says that a new provision will allow companies to set plant-wide limits for greenhouse gas emissions to streamline the permitting process and reduce the administrative burden on state and local authorities.
For further information:
www.epa.gov/nsr/
Related stories:
Australia brings in controversial carbon tax (2-Jul)
US EPA’s right to limit emissions from power plants upheld (28-Jun)
EPA releases emission standard for new power plants (29-Mar)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5241/
