Commission OKs Oregon's GHG Reporting Rules
The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission has adopted reporting rules for greenhouse gas emissions. The rules establish reporting criteria for Oregon businesses and industries and will provide the state with accurate information about the amount of greenhouse gases these activities produce each year.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski last year requested that the commission adopt reporting rules as a key step in a comprehensive strategy to mitigate the impacts of global warming and put Oregon on track to reducing greenhouse gas levels to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Obtaining accurate greenhouse gas emissions data is a key component to both the Western Climate Initiative and 2007 Oregon legislation that put Oregon's greenhouse gas reduction goals into statute.
"Addressing the issue of climate change is the most pressing environmental and economic issue of our time," Kulongoski said. "This new rule will help us obtain the fundamental information we need to target reductions of greenhouse gas emissions by identifying the sources of these global warming pollutants and is the first step in developing a cap-and-trade system that works for Oregon's economy and our environment."
Most industrial sources that have a state air discharge permit or a Title V permit will be required to track and report greenhouse gas emissions in 2009. Facilities will be required to report their GHG emissions annually after 2010 unless their total emissions are less than the equivalent of 2,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
"Figuring out what Oregon is contributing in terms of greenhouse gases is the first of many steps we must take to combat climate change," says Bill Blosser, Environmental Quality Commission chair. "These rules will give us the data we need to participate in regional efforts to reduce emissions and help prepare Oregon for a carbon-limited future."
The final rule is available at www.deq.state.or.us/aq/climate/rulemaking.htm.