[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6877 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6877
To provide for the creation of a Federal greenhouse gas registry, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 11, 2008
Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. Inslee, and Mr. Holt) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the creation of a Federal greenhouse gas registry, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Greenhouse Gas Registry Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
(2) Carbon dioxide equivalent.--The term ``carbon dioxide
equivalent'' means, for each greenhouse gas, the quantity of
the greenhouse gas that the Administrator determines, pursuant
to section 4, makes the same contribution to global warming as
1 metric ton of carbon dioxide.
(3) Climate registry.--The term ``Climate Registry'' means
the greenhouse gas emission registry jointly established and
managed by more than 40 States and Indian tribes to collect
greenhouse gas emission data from entities to support various
greenhouse gas emission reporting and reduction policies for
the member States and Indian tribes.
(4) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means, for
each calendar year--
(A) a facility within the electric power sector
that contains a fossil fuel-fired electricity
generating unit or units that together emit more than
10,000 carbon dioxide equivalents of greenhouse gas in
that year;
(B) an industrial facility that emits more than
10,000 carbon dioxide equivalents of greenhouse gas in
that year;
(C) a facility that produces, or an entity that
imports or exports, in that year refined or semirefined
petroleum-based, or coal-based, liquid fuel;
(D) a local distribution company that in that year
delivers natural gas;
(E) to the extent that the Administrator considers
necessary to achieve the purposes described in section
3, an entity selling or distributing electric energy or
an independent system operator;
(F) a facility that produces for sale or
distribution, or an entity that imports, in that year
more than 10,000 carbon dioxide equivalents of
hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur
hexafluoride, any other anthropogenic gas designated by
the Administrator as a greenhouse gas under section 5,
or any combination thereof;
(G) a site at which carbon dioxide is geologically
sequestered on a commercial scale; and
(H) any other entity that the Administrator
determines is appropriate in order to carry out the
purposes set forth in section 3.
(5) Facility.--The term ``facility'' means one or more
buildings, structures, or installations of an entity on one or
more contiguous or adjacent properties located in the United
States.
(6) Geologically sequestered.--The term ``geologically
sequestered'' means the isolation of greenhouse gases, without
reversal, in geological formations, as determined by the
Administrator.
(7) Greenhouse gas.--The term ``greenhouse gas'' means any
of--
(A) carbon dioxide;
(B) methane;
(C) nitrous oxide;
(D) sulfur hexafluoride;
(E) a hydrofluorocarbon;
(F) a perfluorocarbon; or
(G) any other anthropogenic gas designated by the
Administrator as a greenhouse gas under section 5.
(8) Greenhouse gas emission.--The term ``greenhouse gas
emission'' means an emission of a greenhouse gas, including--
(A) stationary combustion source emissions emitted
as a result of combustion of fuels in stationary
equipment, such as boilers, furnaces, burners,
turbines, heaters, incinerators, engines, flares, and
other similar sources;
(B) process emissions consisting of emissions from
chemical or physical processes other than combustion;
(C) fugitive emissions consisting of intentional
and unintentional emissions from equipment leaks, such
as joints, seals, packing, and gaskets, or from piles,
pits, cooling towers, and other similar sources; and
(D) biogenic emissions resulting from biological
processes, such as anaerobic decomposition,
nitrification, and denitrification.
(9) Industrial facility.--The term ``industrial facility''
means--
(A) any facility in the manufacturing sector (as
defined in North American Industrial Classification
System codes 31, 32, and 33);
(B) any natural gas processing plant; and
(C) any other facility that produces petroleum-
based or coal-based liquid fuel.
(10) Local distribution company.--The term ``local
distribution company'' has the meaning given that term in
section 2(17) of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C.
3301(17)).
(11) Reversal.--The term ``reversal'' means an intentional
or unintentional release to the atmosphere of a significant
quantity, as determined by the Administrator, of greenhouse gas
that was sequestered.
(12) Sequestered.--The term ``sequestered'' means the
separation, isolation, or removal of greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere, as determined by the Administrator.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to establish a Federal greenhouse gas registry that--
(A) is national in scope;
(B) is complete, consistent, and transparent; and
(C) will collect reliable and accurate data that
can be used by public and private entities to design
and implement efficient and effective energy security
initiatives and greenhouse gas emission reduction
strategies, including a mandatory, multisector
emissions trading scheme or emissions reduction
program; and
(2) to provide the Administrator better direction and
clarity than has been provided in previous laws with respect to
the United States need for greenhouse gas emission information.
SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT VALUE OF GREENHOUSE
GASES.
(a) Initial Determination.--Not later than 90 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall--
(1) determine the quantity of each greenhouse gas that
makes the same contribution to global warming as 1 metric ton
of carbon dioxide; and
(2) publish such determination in the Federal Register.
(b) Methodology.--In determining the quantity of a gas that makes
the same contribution to global warming as 1 metric ton of carbon
dioxide under this section or section 5, the Administrator shall take
into account publications by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change or a successor organization under the United Nations.
SEC. 5. DESIGNATION OF GREENHOUSE GASES.
The Administrator shall--
(1) designate as a greenhouse gas, for purposes of this
Act, any directly emitted anthropogenic gas that is included in
the Inventory of United States Greenhouse Gases and Sinks, 1
metric ton of which makes the same or greater contribution to
global warming as 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide, as determined
by the Administrator; and
(2) publish, and update as necessary, in the Federal
Register such designation, including the quantity of the gas
that the Administrator determines makes the same contribution
to global warming as 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide.
SEC. 6. REPORTING OF GREENHOUSE GASES.
Not later than July 1, 2011, and annually thereafter, each covered
entity shall report to the Administrator the greenhouse gas emissions
of the covered entity for the prior calendar year, in accordance with
the regulations issued under section 7.
SEC. 7. REGULATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than July 1, 2009, the Administrator
shall issue regulations establishing a Federal greenhouse gas registry
that achieves the purposes described in section 3. Such regulations
shall--
(1) ensure the completeness, consistency, transparency,
accuracy, precision, and reliability of data submitted by
covered entities on--
(A) greenhouse gas emissions in the United States;
and
(B) the production and manufacture in the United
States, and importation into the United States, of
fuels and other products the uses of which result in
greenhouse gas emissions;
(2) take into account the best practices from the most
recent Federal, State, tribal, and international protocols for
the measurement, accounting, reporting, and verification of
greenhouse gas emissions, including protocols from the Climate
Registry and other mandatory State or multistate authorized
programs;
(3) take into account the latest scientific research;
(4) require that, wherever feasible, submitted data are
monitored using monitoring systems for fuel use, fuel flow, or
emissions, such as continuous emission monitoring systems or
systems of equivalent precision, reliability, accessibility,
and timeliness;
(5) require that, if a covered entity is already using a
continuous emission monitoring system to monitor mass
greenhouse gas emissions under a provision of law in effect as
of the date of enactment of this Act that is consistent with
this Act, that system be used to monitor submitted data;
(6) require reporting at least annually, beginning with
reporting on the emission of greenhouse gases during calendar
year 2010;
(7) include methods for minimizing double reporting and
avoiding irreconcilable double reporting of greenhouse gas
emissions;
(8) include protocols to prevent covered entities from
avoiding reporting requirements;
(9) include strict protocols for verification of submitted
data;
(10) establish a means for electronic reporting;
(11) ensure verification and auditing of submitted data;
(12) establish consistent policies for calculating carbon
content and greenhouse gas emissions for each type of fossil
fuel reported;
(13) provide for immediate public dissemination on the
Internet of all verified data reported under this Act that are
not--
(A) vital to the national security of the United
States, as determined by the President; or
(B) confidential business information that cannot
be derived from information that is otherwise
publically available and that would cause significant
calculable competitive harm if published (except that
information relating to greenhouse gas emissions shall
not be considered to be confidential business
information); and
(14) prescribe methods by which the Administrator shall, in
cases in which satisfactory data are not submitted to the
Administrator for any period of time--
(A) replace the missing data with a best estimate
of emission levels that may have occurred during the
period for which data are missing, in order to ensure
that emissions are not underreported or overreported
and to create a strong incentive for meeting data
monitoring and reporting requirements; and
(B) take appropriate enforcement action.
(b) Information Gathering Authorities.--For purposes of carrying
out this Act and the regulations under this section, the Administrator
shall have the same authority as the Administrator has under section
114 of the Clean Air Act.
SEC. 8. INTERRELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER SYSTEMS.
(a) In General.--The regulations issued under section 7 shall take
into account the work done by the Climate Registry and other mandatory
State or multistate authorized programs, and shall explain the major
differences in approach between the system established under the
regulations and the respective registries or programs.
(b) No Preemption.--Nothing in this Act preempts any State or
regional greenhouse gas registry efforts.
SEC. 9. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Civil Actions.--The Administrator may bring a civil action in a
United States district court against any entity that fails to comply
with any requirement promulgated pursuant to section 7.
(b) Penalty.--Any person that has violated or is violating
regulations promulgated pursuant to section 7 shall be subject to a
civil penalty of not more than $25,000 per day for each violation.
(c) Penalty Adjustment.--For each fiscal year after the fiscal year
in which this Act is enacted, the Administrator shall, by regulation,
adjust the penalty specified in subsection (b) to reflect changes for
the 12-month period ending the preceding November 30 in the Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the Department of Labor.
SEC. 10. EFFECT ON OTHER PROVISIONS.
Nothing in this Act, or regulations issued pursuant to this Act,
shall affect or be construed to affect the regulatory status of carbon
dioxide or any other greenhouse gas, or to expand or limit regulatory
authority regarding carbon dioxide or any other greenhouse gas, for
purposes of the Clean Air Act. The previous sentence shall not affect
implementation and enforcement of this Act.
<all>