Tuesday, March 01, 2011

EPA Announces Plans To Extend March 31 GHG Reporting Deadline

Mar 1: U.S. EPA announced that its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program has recently completed extensive work to develop GHG data reporting requirements for a wide range of different industries in response to Congressional mandates. The program will provide Congress, stakeholder groups and the public with information about the emissions while helping businesses identify cost effective ways to reduce emissions in the future. To ensure that the requirements are practical and understandable to the thousands of companies already registered to report under the program, the Agency is in the process of finalizing a user friendly online electronic reporting platform.

    EPA said, "Following conversations with industry and others, and in the interest of providing high quality data to the public this year, EPA is extending this year's reporting deadline -- originally March 31 -- and plans to have the final uploading tool available this summer, with the data scheduled to be published later this year. EPA said the extension will allow it to further test the system that facilities will use to submit data and give industry the opportunity to test the tool, provide feedback, and have sufficient time to become familiar with the tool prior to reporting." The Agency said it will provide more detail on these intended changes in the coming weeks and will ensure that this reporting extension is in effect before the original reporting deadline of March 31, 2011. However, the Agency did not specify the new reporting deadline.

    In addition to the nine rulemakings necessary to comply with Congressional direction for the program, EPA said that over the past two years it has established a public help center that operates through the Agency website and efficient mechanisms for stakeholders to get answers from EPA experts to detailed technical questions. EPA has also conducted training sessions with each affected sector and held hundreds of meetings with stakeholders across the country.

    EPA's greenhouse gas reporting program, launched in October 2009, requires the reporting of GHG emissions data from large emission sources and fuel suppliers across a range of industry sectors. EPA said the program will provide data that will help industries find ways to be more efficient and save money.
 
    Access a release from EPA (click here). Access more information on these actions (click here).  Access more information on the GHG Reporting Program (click here).
 
THE REST OF TODAY'S NEWS
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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