Andrew Keenan, CMO/Partner of Verus Carbon
Neutral contributed the following article.
EPA Mandatory Greenhouse Gases Reporting Deadline is
Approaching Quickly
 |
If your business is carbon intensive, beginning calendar-year
2010, chances are you will have to measure and report your
greenhouse gas emissions to the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA). There are a number of rules that apply, the most important
being that if your company emits at least 25,000 metric tons of CO2
equivalents annually. The new law, which is called the Mandatory
Reporting Rule (MRR), will require more than 13,000 businesses to
report their carbon emissions by March 2011. However, you must
start collecting information starting January 2010. |
So, how do you know if you meet this threshold?
If you generate any of your own power, are in metals production or
utilize boilers, you'll most likely be affected by the law. In
total, there are 26 different source categories-mostly
manufacturing or production companies.
The bad news is that if you don't report or don't report correctly,
MRR falls under the Clean Air Act and you may be subject to
administrative, civil and criminal penalties. That means jail time
and five-figure daily fines. The good news is there are consultants
already in place to make sure you are prepared and all of your
paperwork is in order.
For a small fee you can hire Atlanta-based Verus Carbon Neutral to
tell you if you'll need to report or not. Verus can help you
measure and begin reporting. Visit their website or
call 800-275-1847, for free, to see if your business falls into one
of the 26 categories.
The big question: Why is the EPA requiring companies to report
their emissions? It all has to do with the government wanting
short and long-term greenhouse gas reductions. The Obama
Administration is using a "carrot and stick" approach. The "carrot"
is cap and trade and the "stick" is the EPA. So if a cap- and-trade
bill doesn't get passed it's very likely that greenhouse gases will
be regulated by the EPA as part of the Clean Air Act. Then
companies will face heavy fines for
non-compliance.
The Obama Administration has already issued Executive
Order 13514, which requires the entire the federal government
to measure and reduce its carbon footprint. Even parts of the
military are affected by this order. So it's clear that
President Obama is serious about reducing the county's carbon
footprint. You probably already know that the U.S. House has passed
the Waxman-Markey Bill, but the Kerry-Boxer Bill, in the Senate, is
still being considered. Reliable resources indicate that there are
24 Senators that are "on the fence," and if 11 of them vote "yes"
on the bill it will pass. Both cap-and-trade bills will ease CO2
emitters into reductions the first few years with the use of
allowances, which will be, at first, given away and then sold to
companies that can't make reductions. Companies that can make
significant reductions will be in the catbird seat, and will be
able to sell their reductions as offsets.
To get more information, go to the Verus Carbon Neutral website: www.Verus-CO2.com ;
Click here to
request EPA Mandatory Reporting Rule
Information.