The EPA will now require United States oil and gas companies, along with certain electronics manufacturing plants to report their greenhouse has emissions. This requirement is part of the EPA's new (as of earlier this year) Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program which is designed not to directly regulate the emissions rates of companies, but rather to inform the public as to how much pollution a particular company or industry sector emits. Now that the energy sector is now accounted for, the EPA has all of the 'high-profile sectors[s]' under its monitoring, which amount to 85% of all industrial greenhouse gas emissions produced in the US. While the EPA estimates this tracking of emissions will cost the energy industry $62 million for companies to be able to a get the software and monitoring needed, others argue that cost may range from $123 million to $1 billion.
I believe the costs of this program will actually be worth the benefits; although, in the short term the balance will likely prove to be the other way around. I believe this because it will afford people to know if there is a particularly inefficient company which they are then able to compare with other companies who produce the same good, and then make an informed decision about purchasing the companies good or service. While there is no immediate possibility for regulation of oil and gas production companies, there does appear to be potential for future regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, especially given the analytical approach the EPA is taking to compartmentalize businesses into their specific sectors. If the EPA does choose to regulate the emissions that US oil and gas companies, I believe it will be making a big mistake, because it would force our companies to be potentially much less competitive than the state-run oil giants which give no regard to emissions produced. However, even if the EPA were to attempt to regulate oil and gas companies enough to hurt their competitive edge, the political upheaval that this would create would soon crush such hopes of the EPA.
Sources: New York Times, Photo, EIA
I think that the EPA passing these new regulations is a step in the right direction in terms of both informing the public of the greenhouse gas emissions of energy companies and of trying to solve the current evironment woes. I think this EPA regulation goes a long way in achieving these objectives, however I think they could do more by capping the amount of greenhouse gasses released per year. This legislation if eneacted would not only be used in the energy sector or for the business community, but also for automobiles and eventually planes.
ReplyDeleteI feel like having gas emissions reported is a good thing. I'm not so sure about capping emissions in the current economy, but the transparency is very likely a good thing. Still, maybe it would be best to wait until the US economy is on the rebound until attempting to pass such legislation
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