EPA Proposes Amendments To Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule

On January 15, 2016, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") published proposed revisions to the greenhouse gas reporting rule ("GHGRR"). The proposed revisions are the most substantive changes to the GHGRR since it first became effective in 2009.

Several provisions in the proposed rule are intended to streamline reporting obligations. For example, EPA seeks to clarify when covered entities may cease reporting under the GHGRR if annual emissions are less than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent ("mtCO2e") for five reporting years or less than 15,000 mtCO2e for three reporting years, or if process operations are permanently shut down. EPA is also proposing to allow abandoned underground coal mines, which previously could not take advantage of those thresholds, to similarly cease reporting where emissions are below certain levels.