EPA Approves Emissions Trading Scheme
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Source: ENS
See Also -->PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) white paper on emissions trading (June, 2000)
EPA Approves Emissions Trading Scheme
By Brian Hansen
CHICAGO, Illinois, December 19, 2000 (ENS) - The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps to formally
sanction the state of Illinois' controversial program of allowing
industrial polluters to trade air pollution credits in the smoggy Chicago
metropolitan area. The state of Illinois' so called "cap and trade"
program for emissions of volatile organic compounds is the first such
initiative in the country.
Two other states - New
Jersey and Michigan - are
expected to propose similar
initiatives to the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) for trading
volatile organic compound
(VOC) emissions credits in
their nonattainment areas. The EPA is expected to approve all three
proposals.
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Under the Illinois program, polluters that voluntarily cap their VOC
emissions at levels 12 percent less than their 1996 levels are eligible
to receive emission "credits" from state environmental regulators.
Participating polluters then have a choice of choice of actually
cutting their emissions by 12 percent, or buying credits from another
VOC polluter that pledges to cut its emissions by that amount, in
addition to its own 12 percent reduction.
EPA officials say the trading
program effectively reduces VOC emissions by 12 percent in the
Chicago metropolitan area, which does not currently meet national
health based standards for ozone. Moreover, the trading program will
allow participating companies reduce their emissions in sectors that
are easiest and cheapest for them to control, EPA officials
emphasize.
"We congratulate Illinois for taking this ground breaking approach to
reducing emissions that cause ozone," said EPA regional administrator
Francis Lyons. "This approach will reward companies that develop
new ways to cut their VOC emissions."
VOCs are emitted through a variety of sources, including industrial
plants, automobiles and consumer products such as paint strippers.
VOCs are classified as ozone precursors, which means that they
contribute to the creation of "bad" ground level ozone - commonly
known as urban smog - when they react with sunlight and hot
weather.
The EPA says the health effects from VOC exposure can include eye,
nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination and
nausea. Overexposure can also cause damage to liver, kidney and
central nervous system.
Some VOCs can cause cancer
in animals, and some are
suspected or known to cause
cancer in humans. Millions of
Americans live in areas that
are out of attainment with
national ozone health
standards established by the EPA.
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Repeated exposure to ozone pollution may cause permanent damage
to the lungs. Inhaling ozone even in low levels can trigger a variety
of health problems, including chest pains, coughing, nausea, throat
irritation and congestion. It can also worsen bronchitis, heart
disease, emphysema, and asthma, as well as reduce lung capacity.
Scientists have also found that ground level, or "bad" ozone
interferes with the ability of plants to produce and store food, making
them more susceptible to disease, insects, and other detrimental
forces. The EPA estimates that ground level ozone reduces crop
production by some $500 million per year.
Bad ozone also wreaks havoc on the foliage of trees and other
plants, ruining the landscapes of cities, national parks and recreation
areas.
The Chicago metropolitan area currently does not meet the national
health based standard for ozone, and is classified by EPA as a
"severe nonattainment area" for the air pollutant.
The EPA's Lyons was optimistic that the novel VOC emissions trading
program will be an effective way to address the problem, arguing that
successful emissions control initiatives are not "one size fits all."
"This program will allow each company to find its own best means of
achieving environmental improvement," Lyons said.
Others see things differently. Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER), a Washington, DC based government watchdog
group, argues that such trading programs will allow industries to
avoid installing cleanup technologies by instead purchasing air
pollution reductions that have been produced in another time or
place, or with an altogether different pollutant.
PEER, a whistleblower
protection group, says
that the EPA's own
experts have come forward with grave concerns about such
emissions trading schemes.
"According to the agency's own experts, these state trading plans
strip away the only safeguards that ensure [that] a true reduction in
pollution will result," said Jeff Ruch, the group's executive director.
"The public is protected only if we know that each pollution credit
trade is an 'apple to apple' exchange. However, EPA is willing to allow
an apple to be traded away for the future promise of a guava."
Ruch maintains that such "don't ask, don't tell" emissions trading
schemes pose serious public health and environmental consequences.
Such programs, he noted, could allow companies to increase their
emission of highly toxic chemicals such as benzene, if another
company decreases its emissions of nitrogen oxide or some other
relatively non-toxic substance.
Such emissions trading programs could also run counter to principles
of "environmental justice" by giving big industrial polluters the means
to operate unencumbered in low income and minority neighborhoods,
Ruch added.
Ruch pointed out that the
EPA's approval of the Illinois emissions trading scheme comes on the
heels of the failed climate change talks held recently in The Hague,
Netherlands. At that summit, the United States' proposal to meet
greenhouse gas reduction levels through a market based emissions
trading program was rejected by a host of countries, Ruch noted.
Ruch blamed the outgoing Clinton/Gore administration for allowing the
EPA to approve emissions trading programs like the one put forward
by Illinois. Ruch said the administration has allowed its "fixation" on
developing market based solutions to "distract it from its primary
responsibility of protecting public health."
The Illinois proposal will be open to public comment for 30 days. The
EPA's approval notice can be viewed online at:
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR.
See Also -->PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) white paper on emissions trading (June, 2000)
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