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| Environmental News |
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| EQB Receives Petition to Reduce Greenhouse Gases |
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In 1970, when the Commonwealth was setting up its first environmental protection agency, the vision was for an "independent" body to promulgate regulations for what is now the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). That "independent" body was/is the Environmental Quality Board (EQB), which is no longer "independent". (Some say they never were independent.)
EQB is the 20-member board that promulgates all of DEP's regulations. It is chaired by the Secretary of the DEP and includes representatives from eleven state agencies, five members of the Citizens Advisory Council and four members of the Senate and House.
The EQB is also authorized to consider citizen petitions to change regulations.
On November 27th, the Clean Air Council, Widener University Environmental Law and Sustainability Center located in Harrisburg, and over 60 other individuals and groups filed a 407-page rulemaking petition to the EQB to establish a market-based cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emission reduction program designed to eliminate those emissions from major
sources by 2052. DEP has 30 days to determine if the petition meets the requirements for consideration by the EQB. If it is acceptable, it will go to the EQB for a vote on whether the petition should be accepted for study.
The petition is based on California’s greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program and utilizes DEP's 2015 emissions, the latest year with complete data available from the PA State Inventory Tool. The petition proposes to cover 14 different industries that emit 25,000 tons or more of greenhouse gases a year, including cement, iron, lead, petroleum products production, coal mining, electric generating facilities, oil and gas production facilities, suppliers of natural gas and carbon dioxide, and fuel oil and petroleum product distributors.
The petition is proposing the EQB adopt a regulation to cap greenhouse gas emissions from major sources at 2016 levels. The emissions cap would then be reduced by 3 percent annually until emissions are zero from major sources. For each ton of greenhouse gas emission, "allowances" would be created based on the cap. DEP would then auction off most of those allowances or distribute them to the sources covered by the
program. The petition creates a base price for the allowances of at least $10 per ton in 2020, with the price increasing 10 percent per year plus inflation, until it hits the base established by California. Once it hits the California value, the price will track the California value. (Yes, as
a reminder, we are still in Pennsylvania.) After the auction and distribution of allowances, anyone may buy or sell an allowance creating a market for allowable greenhouse gas emissions.
Greenhouse gas emissions in PA have already been significantly reduced as a result of the coal-fired power plant closures and the increase in the use of natural gas to generate electricity.
Also worth noting is DEP’s Climate Change Advisory Committee draft 2018 PA Climate Action Plan and Recommendations, which include overall greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets of a 26 percent reduction in net emissions by 2025 from 2005 levels and an 80 percent net reduction by 2050. These targets are in line with the goals established by the 2015 U.N. Paris Climate Agreement.
Should you have any questions, contact Josie Gaskey.
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