EPA Might Try Cap-and-Trade Plan Without New Law, Cantor Says
By Simon Lomax
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Environmental Protection Agency might act alone to set up a U.S. carbon market if legislation that would establish a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases fails to pass Congress, CantorCO2e, the emission markets unit of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, said.
“If Congress doesn’t pass legislation, EPA is clearly on a course to develop its own approach to cap-and-trade,” Allan Bedwell, a vice president at CantorCO2e, said in a telephone interview.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the existing Clean Air Act. So far, the agency has used this authority to propose tougher fuel economy standards for cars and a requirement that new and modified industrial facilities, such as power plants, use the “best available” technologies to minimize pollution.
Instead of the EPA regulating greenhouse gases under current law, President Barack Obama last year called on Congress to amend the Clean Air Act by adopting cap-and-trade legislation, which would allow companies to buy and sell a limited number of pollution rights. After narrowly passing the House, legislation stalled in the Senate.
With the passage of a cap-and-trade program in doubt, the EPA “signaled” in its budget request for fiscal 2011 that an emissions trading system might still be possible through agency regulations, Bedwell said.
The agency’s Feb. 1 request, which is subject to congressional approval, calls for $7.5 million to “assess and potentially develop” further greenhouse gas regulations that include “where possible, market-oriented mechanisms and flexibilities to provide lowest cost compliance options.”
When environmental regulators talk about market-oriented ways to cut emissions, it is usually “code for cap-and-trade,” said Bedwell, a former deputy secretary at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Adora Andy, a spokeswoman for the EPA, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
For Related News and Information:
To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Lomax in Washington at slomax@bloomberg.net.
bloomberg.com |
