The EPA on Friday announced it had released a proposed rule that would eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which impacts power plants, oil refineries, and other industries that contribute large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the move would save American businesses $2.4B in regulatory costs.
According to an EPA webpage, the program is designed to “track and compare facilities’ greenhouse gas emissions, identify opportunities to cut pollution, minimize wasted energy, and save money. States, cities, and other communities can use EPA’s greenhouse gas data to find high-emitting facilities in their area, compare emissions between similar facilities, and develop common-sense climate policies.”
In a statement, however, Zeldin called the program “nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality.”
An agency news release added, “By reducing the overall regulatory burden, current regulated parties will be able to focus compliance expenditures on actual, tangible environmental benefits.”
