EPA Explores Options for Further Delay
24 April 2007 by loufuzai
U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson will face Barbara Boxer and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today. The Senate Committee members are keen to explore the implications of the recent Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA. In a statement prepared for the hearings, Johnson made it clear that EPA is exploring its options to delay any action until the next administration. Johnson wrote that EPA still has “significant latitude” to determine whether or not new rules are needed. He further stated that:
While EPA explores options in response to the recent Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, we will continue to implement the initiatives that have proven effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and which form an integral component of the President’s comprehensive strategy to address climate change.
Importantly, the Court did not hold that EPA was required to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under section 202, or any other section, of the Clean Air Act.
Importantly, the Court’s decision explicitly left open the issue of whether EPA can consider policy considerations when writing regulations in the event EPA were to make an endangerment finding.
Statements like this will not go unchallenged in the hearings. Nor will the rest of the 19 pages of the statement that list the administration’s “aggressive steps to tackle climate change.” Here is a piece on the results of EPA’s “aggressive steps” http://environmentaldefenseblogs.org/climate411/2007/04/17/us-emissions-up-epa-calls-that-results/.
One of those “aggressive steps” is carbon capture and storage. Johnson stated that:
The Administration is investigating the prospects for carbon dioxide capture from power plants and other industrial sources and long-term storage in geologic formations. EPA’s role consists in ensuring that carbon capture and storage is developed and deployed in a manner that safeguards the environment. We are currently focusing our efforts on two fronts: (1) partnering with public and private stakeholders to develop an understanding of the environmental aspects of carbon capture and storage that must be addressed for the necessary technologies to become a viable strategy for reducing greenhouse gases; and (2) ensuring carbon dioxide storage is conducted in a manner that protects underground sources of drinking water, as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act.
