EPA plan to end GHG reporting would hurt carbon capture efforts: industry coalition

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed ending its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program for power plant owners and other sources of carbon emissions — a move carbon capture advocates say would hurt efforts to develop the carbon capture and storage sector.

Parts of the EPA’s GHG reporting program are “inextricably” tied to the federal Section 45Q tax credit for carbon capture and storage, according to the Carbon Capture Coalition.

“Should this proposed rule be finalized as is, the fate of hundreds of announced carbon management projects nationwide and the billions of dollars in capital investments and corresponding jobs will be on the line,” Jessie Stolark, the coalition’s executive director, said Friday in a press release.

Treasury Department and IRS requirements for monitoring, reporting and verification programs for geologic carbon storage require taxpayers claiming the 45Q tax credit to show how much carbon they are storing by using the EPA’s GHG reporting program, according to the coalition.

Carbon management project developers have invested about $77.5 billion on existing and near-term projects, according to the coalition. “It is not an understatement that the long-term success of the carbon management industry — and the significant economic and environmental benefits it fosters across the country — rests on the robust reporting mechanisms in place through the U.S. EPA,” Stolark said.

The Carbon Capture Coalition supports policies that enable the commercial deployment of carbon management technology. Its members include unions, environmental groups and companies such as Calpine, DTE Energy, GE Vernova and NRG Energy.

Under the EPA’s GHG reporting program, initially mandated by Congress in 2008, organizations in 46 source categories are required to report their carbon emissions every year.

However, the EPA contends that the Clean Air Act doesn’t require GHG reporting for sectors outside the petroleum and natural gas source category, according to the proposal. For that category, the EPA proposed ending reporting requirements for natural gas distribution utilities and suspending them for the rest of the category until 2034, in line with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The EPA expects the proposal will save affected companies about $303 million a year, with the petroleum and natural gas industry saving $256 million annually, according to an agency fact sheet.

EPA will accept comments on the proposal for 47 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

The proposal follows the EPA’s proposal to deny that carbon emissions endanger human health and welfare, and it reflects actions across the government “to bury climate science data, fire scientific staff, shut down websites with climate information, discontinue satellites and halt atmospheric research,” the Natural Resources Defense Council said Friday.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy cut $3.7 billion in carbon capture and decarbonization awards it made during the Biden administration.