Regulation on Horizon for Carbon

Federal curbs on emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed as a principal cause of climate change, continue to be considered by legislation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), part of the executive branch, is considering whether several key greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, endanger public health and welfare (and whether emissions from motor vehicles of four of those greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that endanger public health and welfare). Called an “endangerment finding,” the agency has sent the final proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget .

“The endangerment finding puts a ‘foot in the door’ for EPA to promulgate sweeping new regulations without Congressional oversight that could impose strict limits on carbon emissions from power plants, driving up electric bills,” warns Glenn English, CEO of the Arlington, Va.-based National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

The concern is that once carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles fall under Clean Air Act regulation, other emitters of carbon dioxide—fossil fuel-fired power plants included—will also be subject to EPA regulation.

Electric co-ops believe than any controls on carbon dioxide should be established by Congress, where the impact of these proposals can have a full public debate. Unfortunately, a climate change bill passed by the U.S. House last summer (H.R. 2454) and another reported by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in November (S. 1733) include unachievable goals and timelines, inadequate technology development incentives, and no guarantee that electric bills will remain affordable.

Senate leaders have admitted that climate change legislation is stalling and will likely be picked up sometime in the spring. This legislative log-jam makes it all the more important to pay careful attention to the EPA’s current efforts.

English insists that any climate change legislation should protect consumers and preempt use of the federal Clean Air Act and any other existing laws. Otherwise, utilities and other businesses could be burdened with the task of trying to comply with more than one set of regulations.

“Regulation of carbon dioxide as a pollutant will occur with or without congressional input,” English explains. “But Congress must not simply add new legislation on top of old regulations. Any climate change bill should become the roadmap—the single strategy—for reducing carbon dioxide emissions at federal, state, and local levels.” He continues: “By staying engaged in the process, electric co-ops can have a measureable impact on the outcome.”

Electric co-ops are fighting to ensure that any climate change policy goals adopted are fair, affordable, and achievable. To have your voice heard in this debate, join NRECA’s Our Energy, Our Future™ grassroots awareness campaign at www.ourenergy.coop. To date, more than 600,000 of your fellow co-op consumers across the country have already done so.