States are grappling with the potential loss of an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepares to end or curtail many of its climate-related programs.
The EPA's plans could mean the loss of federal data that has helped inform state policies around the country, including cap-and-trade programs. States may be forced to try collecting the data themselves, or look elsewhere, to support their emissions-reduction policies.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin in March named the federal mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) as one of more than 30 climate-related programs and regulations the agency plans to reconsider.
"The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is another example of a bureaucratic government program that does not improve air quality," Zeldin said. "Instead, it costs American businesses and manufacturing millions of dollars."
That announcement has created new uncertainty for both participants and regulators in state- and regional-level cap-and-trade programs that use federal data. But a successful removal of the GHGRP would affect some states more than others.
The federal program requires roughly 8,000 sources responsible for more than 25,000 metric tonnes/yr of CO2 equivalent to report their annual emissions to EPA. The data, which EPA has collected since 2010 and publishes each autumn, spans emissions from industry, agriculture, GHG sinks, along with those from electricity purchases or indirect emissions from electricity consumption.
The EPA said it is still working on its proposed rule to remove the GHGRP program.
For some states, losing access to the data would directly impact their ability to track emissions for their GHG inventories or for ensuring compliance with cap-and-trade programs, leaving them in a race to fill the gap before the EPA pulls the data rug out from under them.
GHG data rush
On the US west coast, Washington intends to lessen its reliance on federal data by expanding resources within the state Department of Ecology and developing its own collection process to inform its annual GHG inventory and to track compliance in the state's "cap-and-invest" program.
Ecology also is reliant on the EPA's state inventory tool, which draws from the GHGRP data among others, to compile and track the state's progress in reducing GHG emissions.
The state is following in the footsteps of one of its west coast neighbors to reduce its need for EPA tools.
"We are actually taking some of the steps California has taken in the past to not rely on federal tools and data," Ecology Climate Pollution Reduction Program manager Joel Creswell said at a conference panel in March.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), which oversees the state's cap-and-trade program, has moved much of its data collection in-house over the years, so it should not be affected much by a loss of federal tools.
CARB maintains its own reporting tool, the California Electronic Greenhouse Gas Reporting Tool, known as Cal e-GGRT, for covered entities to submit their emissions data.
Ecology began working on similar measures after the federal Electronic Greenhouse Gas Reporting Tool (EGGRT) platform went offline for several weeks earlier this year, prompting uncertainty around continued access.
Facilities covered by Washington's "cap-and-invest" program report their emissions to Ecology using EGGRT, which means any delay or loss of federal tools could affect their ability to demonstrate compliance.
Governor Bob Ferguson (D) last month signed into law HB 1975, which allows Ecology to adjust deadlines for surrendering allowances if the state cannot access emissions data from a third party, such as the EPA.
Back east
Other states, such as New York, which in March proposed creating its own GHG reporting program to support a new carbon market, see their efforts as a "backstop" against action by federal authorities.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a power-plant CO2 cap-and-trade program covering 10 east coast states, would not feel any direct impacts from losing the GHGRP data, but future data availability remains a point of concern.
RGGI uses a separate EPA data source, called the Clean Air Markets Program Data (CAMPD), for calculating covered emissions and compliance. The CAMPD system, created by EPA to support the Acid Rain Program and other federal trading systems, has collected data on power sector SO2, NOx and CO2 emissions since 1995
The EPA currently has no plans to alter CAMPD, the agency said. But the administration's efforts to curtail both state and federal climate actions leave little certainty for carbon market regulators and participants that this will always be the case.
RGGI declined to comment on "hypothetical federal changes" last month, instead saying the member states will continue to work together to implement the program, "including appropriate consideration of any future federal actions".
