CoolPass: EPA extends deadline for greenhouse gas emissions reporting.

March 7, 2011 - PRLog -- CoolPass sources report that the EPA announced that it was moving the deadline from March 31 to later in the year, when it hoped to have a user friendly online electronic platform set up for businesses to report their emissions. The agency said more details on the changes to its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program would be made available over the coming weeks.

The new program was launched in 2009 to gather data on GHG pollution to inform future policy decisions.

The trade group representing oil refineries, which will now also be compelled to report their emissions, has said the delay would mean a more accurate data could be collected.

"Taking a little extra time to get this program right makes more sense than rushing to meet an artificial and inflexible deadline,” Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association told CoolPass sources recently. "We recognize the need for a quality reporting program."


The American Chemistry Council said it also supported the delay. Reporting done right requires a thorough understanding of the new rules, ample time for feedback and sufficient testing to ensure a high quality database," the president and CEO of the council was quoted as saying.



A number of polluters are opposed to the EPA’s regulations on GHG emissions saying that they will damage the economy and cost jobs, and these companies are currently pressuring congress to temporarily delay or prevent the EPA from regulating pollution.


Many others, like NRG Energy Inc, one of the U.S.’s largest electricity generators, want the EPA to continue regulating, so that they may have more certainty regarding investments into new power generation capacity.