{"id":72,"date":"2010-03-08T12:47:59","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T17:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=72"},"modified":"2012-01-31T15:43:24","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T20:43:24","slug":"72","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2010\/03\/08\/72\/","title":{"rendered":"Cap-and-Trade Under the Clean Air Act? Rethinking Section 115"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

by Hannah Chang<\/p>\n

As comprehensive climate legislation stagnates in Congress, the possibility of greenhouse gas (\u201cGHG\u201d) regulation under the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (\u201cEPA\u201d) existing Clean Air Act (\u201cthe Act\u201d) authority as the sole federal means of addressing climate change becomes increasingly likely.\u00a0 Whether EPA has existing authority to implement a cap-and-trade program for GHGs, which many believe is the cornerstone of an effective and efficient approach to controlling emissions, has as yet no definitive answer.\u00a0 The various sections of the Clean Air Act that could act as authority for such a program have their own legal ambiguities and practical limitations.[1]<\/a> One largely overlooked section \u2013 \u00a7 115 on \u201cInternational Air Pollution\u201d \u2013 however, is potentially quite powerful in its implications for the establishment of cap-and-trade under the Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n

Columbia Law School\u2019s Center for Climate Change Law has issued a working paper, available here<\/a>, that argues that EPA can exercise its \u00a7 115 authority now.\u00a0 Upon a finding that pollution in the United States is causing or contributing to air pollution \u201cwhich may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare in a foreign country\u201d and a reciprocity finding that the affected foreign country gives the U.S. \u201cessentially the same rights with respect to the prevention or control of air pollution occurring in that country as is given that country\u201d by the section, \u00a7 115 authorizes the EPA to order the states in which emissions are occurring to revise their state implementation plans (SIPs) to address the foreign endangerment.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Section 115 would likely permit EPA to establish state GHG emissions \u201cbudgets\u201d in issuing a call for states to revise their SIPs, and the existence of such a GHG cap would serve as an impetus for states to act together (as some already have) to implement a system that would permit trade of GHG allowances.\u00a0 Section 115 offers promise because (1) its authority can be exercised relatively quickly given that the necessary endangerment and reciprocity findings can likely be made, (2) it stands on strong legal ground insofar as states have clear authority to participate in allowance trading (and would be strongly incentivized to trade through the establishment of a cap), (3) it devolves responsibility to the states, which should give individual states political breathing room in deciding how to comply with the cap, and (4) it offers great flexibility, which would encourage the most efficient means of complying with the cap.<\/p>\n

So why has \u00a7 115 so rarely been contemplated as a viable approach to GHG mitigation?\u00a0 Because of a misplaced assumption that the pollutants regulated under \u00a7 115 must be \u201ccriteria pollutants,\u201d or pollutants for which the EPA has established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), an avenue that is widely viewed as an overly burdensome approach to GHG mitigation. \u00a0The Center\u2019s paper examines the statutory language and legislative history of \u00a7 115 to argue that, contrary to the conventional view, pollutants regulated by \u00a7 115 need not be criteria pollutants<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Federal legislation enacting a cap-and-trade program for GHG emissions is undoubtedly the ideal approach, and the paper does not make the argument that determining GHG emissions caps for each state and then permitting states to choose how to meet that cap is by any means the most efficient or effective approach to GHG mitigation.\u00a0 In the absence of a comprehensive federal scheme, however, and in the face of a political climate that seems increasingly resistant to a comprehensive cap-and-trade regime, the paper encourages the consideration that EPA has more in its Clean Air Act arsenal than it currently supposes.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> The three Clean Air Act sections that have been most frequently cited to provide authority for a cap-and-trade program are \u00a7 111 (New Source Performance Standards), Title VI (addressing stratospheric ozone protection), and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) implemented through the states.\u00a0 For a discussion of the various avenues and an evaluation of legality, effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness under each avenue, see Inimai M. Chettiar & Jason A.\u00a0 Schwartz, The Road Ahead: EPA\u2019s Options and Obligations for Regulating Greenhouse Gases <\/em>(Inst. for Policy Integrity, N.Y. Univ. School of Law, April 2009).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 7415 (2010).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Hannah Chang As comprehensive climate legislation stagnates in Congress, the possibility of greenhouse gas (\u201cGHG\u201d) regulation under the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (\u201cEPA\u201d) existing Clean Air Act (\u201cthe Act\u201d) authority as the sole federal means of addressing climate change becomes increasingly likely.\u00a0 Whether EPA has existing authority to implement a cap-and-trade program for GHGs, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":330,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5677],"tags":[5690,5529],"class_list":{"0":"post-72","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-clean-air-act","7":"tag-cap-and-trade","8":"tag-epa-clean-air-act-ghg-rules","9":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"\nCap-and-Trade Under the Clean Air Act? 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Rethinking Section 115 - Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Hannah Chang As comprehensive climate legislation stagnates in Congress, the possibility of greenhouse gas (\u201cGHG\u201d) regulation under the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (\u201cEPA\u201d) existing Clean Air Act (\u201cthe Act\u201d) authority as the sole federal means of addressing climate change becomes increasingly likely.\u00a0 Whether EPA has existing authority to implement a cap-and-trade program for GHGs, which […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2010\/03\/08\/72\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-08T17:47:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-01-31T20:43:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sabincenter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sabincenter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/08\\\/72\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/08\\\/72\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jason James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8f0d9a9c0d7b85121d29f44e3646aaf\"},\"headline\":\"Cap-and-Trade Under the Clean Air Act? 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