Download Locations

• Open CRS (User submitted)

Summary

As Congress considers legislation to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change, attention has focused on "cap-and-trade" legislation. Such legislation would set a national cap on GHG emissions, with allowances (permits) to emit limited amounts of the gases distributed or auctioned to affected parties. Recently, there has also been discussion of taxes on greenhouse-gas-emitting substances (generally referred to as a "carbon tax"), which proponents argue would provide greater transparency and a clearer price signal. Enacting greenhouse gas controls is not simply a choice between cap-and-trade and carbon tax options, however. A third set of options, using the more traditional regulatory approaches of the Clean Air Act (CAA), is available. Unlike a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax, regulation under the Clean Air Act does not require new Congressional action. The ability to limit GHG emissions already exists under various CAA authorities that Congress has enacted, a point underlined by the Supreme Court in an April 2007 decision (Massachusetts v. EPA). Thus, controlling GHGs could follow a two-track approach, with Congress and the Administration pursuing new legal authority (for cap-and-trade, carbon tax, or whatever) at the same time that the Administration, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), exercises existing authority under the Clean Air Act to begin regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. The Administration has made clear that its preference would be for Congress to address the climate issue through new legislation. Nevertheless, it is moving forward on several fronts to define how the Clean Air Act might be used. The key to using the Clean Air Act's authority is for the EPA Administrator to find that GHG emissions are air pollutants that endanger public health or welfare. Administrator Jackson finalized such an endangerment finding, December 7, 2009. With the endangerment finding finalized, the agency can proceed to regulate emissions from various sources of GHGs. EPA has received 10 petitions asking that it make endangerment findings and proceed to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases. Nine of the 10 petitions address mobile sources, including motor vehicles, aircraft, ships, nonroad vehicles and engines, and fuels, under Title II of the Clean Air Act. This report discusses EPA's authority under Title II and provides information regarding the mobile sources that might be regulated under this authority. Among these sources, motor vehicles (passenger cars and light trucks, including SUVs) are the initial targets for regulation, both because a petition addressing these sources began EPA's consideration of the endangerment issue, and because these are the most significant GHG emission sources among those covered by Title II. EPA proposed GHG emission standards for new motor vehicles September 28, 2009, and expects to finalize them in time for their application to Model Year 2012 vehicles. Regulation of GHGs from mobile sources might also lead the agency to establish controls for stationary sources, such as electric power plants. That option, the authority for which would come from different parts of the Clean Air Act, is addressed in CRS Report R40585, Climate Change: Potential Regulation of Stationary Greenhouse Gas Sources Under the Clean Air Act.

XML - JSON