Chamber applauds EPA decision to issue ANPR on CO2

Decision Protects All Businesses from Excessive Clean Air Act Permitting Requirements

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The United States Chamber of Commerce today applauded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson's decision to issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) for greenhouse gas emissions in response to EPA's obligations under the Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA.

"This is absolutely the right decision, and is the only way to fairly and equitably approach the daunting issue of whether to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act," said William Kovacs, Chamber vice president for Environment, Technology and Regulatory Affairs. "The Chamber and others have brought to light the dangers such regulation under existing law would pose to all businesses, both large and small. By giving interested parties the opportunity to put the all the facts on the table, EPA can accurately assess whether the Clean Air Act is the proper vehicle for regulation of greenhouse gases. We're not so sure that it is."

On December 12, 2007, the Chamber and eighteen other trade groups sent a letter to Congress warning that an expected vehicle greenhouse gas rule from EPA could trigger "Prevention of Significant Deterioration" (PSD) permitting authority, a costly and time-consuming permitting and construction requirement for virtually any building in the U.S. that emits a relatively small amount of CO2. Once Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and the bill was signed into law, EPA decided to postpone its decision to regulate greenhouse gases from vehicles. Today's announcement of an ANPR for greenhouse gases is the next step in EPA's decision making process.

"For the first time, we are having an honest discussion of what it means to regulate under the Clean Air Act," added Kovacs. "This includes all of the impacts regulation would have down the line, from large emitters to everyone else. It lets everybody know exactly what the consequences will be."

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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