.E.P.A. Unveils Rule to Regulate Greenhouse Gases

[SpartanDem]

Source: NY Times

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a final rule on Thursday for regulating major emitters of greenhouse gases, like coal-fired power plants, under the Clean Air Act.

Starting in July 2011, new sources of at least 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year and any existing plants that increase emissions by 75,000 tons will have to seek permits, the agency said.

In the first two years, the E.P.A. expects the rule to affect about 15,550 sources, including coal-fired plants, refineries, cement manufacturers, solid waste landfills and other large polluters, said Gina McCarthy, the agency’s assistant administrator.

She said the rule would apply to sites accounting for about 70 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. “We think this is smart rule-making, and we think it’s good government,” she said.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/science/earth/14permit.html?src=mv

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Who needs a stinkin' climate bill

[RantinRavin]

1. Okay, so they pay for a permit

How does this reduce greenhouse gas ?

[jtrockville]

4. As far as I can tell, you can't get a permit unless...

you've installed controls for GHGs.

[ProSense]

2. Here:

Kerry: EPA Final Ruling Underscores Urgency for American Power Act

[azul]

3. I thought it was a crime to kill people,

let alone to cause extinctions.

Is this a balancing economic interests against loss of life type of decision? When an activity has been determined to be killing people, for real, should not we be criminalizing it rather than rewarding its lesser extent?

Make us all complicit with no viable choice to burning gas, eh?

edit:

The World Health Organization reports that 3 million people now die each year from the effects of air pollution, three times the number of deaths each year in automobile accidents. A study published in The Lancet in 2000 concluded that air pollution in France, Austria, and Switzerland is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths annually in those three countries alone. About half of these deaths can be traced to air pollution from vehicle emissions.

In the United States, traffic fatalities total just over 40,000 per year, while air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-96305102.html