The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will regulate greenhouse gas emissions for the first time.  Power plants and other large-scale facilities must use the latest technologies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions to meet the EPA’s air quality standards.  States are required to modify their permitting rules or the EPA will step in and issue permits under the new rule.  Meanwhile, Congress prefers legislative action rather than command-and-control regulation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions solely for the first time on July 1, 2011 under authority of the Clean Air Act.

Today, Sean Slone and I release our latest report, Green Transportation.  The report highlights several initiatives states are taking to green-up their transportation system, including developing alternative fuels and electric vehicle infrastructure, as well as adopting policies that seek to reduce the overall number of vehicles on the road.

As I previously predicted, climate change legislation is dead in 2010.   Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that there will be no bill this session that would cap emissions of greenhouse gases.

China officially passes the United States as the world’s largest energy consumer, according to the International Energy Agency, although the US is still the world’s leader in energy consumed per capita by a considerable margin.  However, that per capita gap is expected to decrease as the Chinese economy becomes wealthier and consumers purchase more energy intensive products.