EPA promises to gradually phase in carbon limits

Responding to pressure from both political parties, the Environmental Protection Agency promised yesterday to gradually phase in climate regulations for industrial sources. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said stationary sources of greenhouse gases will not be subject to permitting regulations until 2011, and small sources would not face regulation any earlier than 2016 (perhaps presuming President Obama will get a second term). Stationary sources include power plants, factories, oil refineries and other heavy emitters. Jackson added that EPA's final tailoring rule, which would exempt more facilities from requirements that they minimize their greenhouse gas emissions, will include a "substantially higher" threshold than the previous proposal.

Jackson's comments came in response to a letter expressing concerns about the effects of EPA action on state economies and energy security, written by eight Democratic senators from Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Montana. West Virginia's Jay Rockefeller, one of the letter signers, told Robin Bravender and Darren Samuelsohn of ClimateWire, reporting for The New York Times, that the move "helps," but he still plans to introduce legislation to circumvent EPA action. Rockefeller would block EPA regulation for two to five years.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski welcomed Jackson's announcement, but maintained that her proposed legislation, which would use the Congressional Review Act to block EPA, remains a better option than Rockefeller's proposal. "A temporary timeout isn't sufficient," Murkowski spokesman Robert Dillon told the reporters. "Bad regulations today are bad regulations tomorrow." (Read more) Energy and Environment News (subscription only) reports that Jackson's announcement gives more negotiating room for senators trying to fashion an energy-and-climate bill.