Whitehouse Denounces EPA’s Proposed Cancelation of Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program

Washington, D.C.— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), issued the following statement after Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the proposed cancelation of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP):

“Not only will canceling the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program allow polluters to poison our air without accountability, but it will also rob American industries of the data that give them a competitive advantage over foreign rivals.  While hiding the facts from the American public won’t erase the mounting costs of climate change, it will erase the best evidence we have that American industry is cleaner than many of its competitors, particularly China and Russia.  And as countries implement carbon tariffs, they will require American exporters to collect this data anyway.  You know it’s bad when even industry players aren’t applauding.  But China and Russia surely are.”

The GHGRP collects information about greenhouse gas emissions from large industrial facilities and power plants.  For the past 15 years, it has collected facility-level emissions data from over 8,000 facilities, supplying vital information to policymakers, scientists, investors, and the public.  These data also show that U.S. industry is substantially less carbon intensive than most of its overseas competitors, which allows U.S. industry to market itself as cleaner than the competition and command a premium in domestic and foreign markets.

In May, after EPW obtained documents that revealed EPA planned to shutter the GHGRP, Ranking Member Whitehouse demanded answers from Administrator Zeldin.  EPA ignored the Senator’s requests.