States Want Delay on Emission Rules

 

California has been a leader among states in pursuing its own emissions efforts. The state plans to require electric utilities to use more renewable power than they do currently. It needs new natural-gas-fired power plants to provide back-up power when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine. - Photo Courtesy of California Hydro Excavation

A growing number of state regulators are urging the Obama administration to slow the rollout of proposed federal rules curbing industrial greenhouse-gas emissions, saying the administration’s approach could overwhelm them with paperwork, delay construction projects and undercut their own efforts to fight climate change.

The concerns echo some criticisms that business groups—including the American Petroleum Institute and the National Association of Manufacturers—have voiced about the potential consequence of new regulations, though the states generally don’t challenge the legality of the proposed regulations, as some business groups have.

Indeed, many state regulators continue to say they support the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to regulate greenhouse gases. Their concerns, they say, have more to do with how quickly such rules should be phased in, and how to pay for an expansion in regulatory oversight at a time when their budgets are in the red.

Regulators from around the U.S., including Kansas, Pennsylvania, Florida and California, are calling on the EPA to go slowly with its new rules, and in some cases warning that they lack funding to regulate some of the new emissions sources that would be covered. To make a seamless transition to more environmentally friendly energy, is going to take time and have huge ramifications for the landscape industry.

“We are gravely concerned that EPA’s current proposal will likely create a huge administrative burden,” said Melissa Jones, the commission’s executive director. While most states stop short of predicting job losses, California says the proposed rules would cause “gridlock” on the construction of power plants. ?EUR??,,????'?????<