[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 232 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 232

 To provide for the creation of a Federal greenhouse gas registry, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2009

    Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Holt, and Ms. Lee of 
 California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the creation of a Federal greenhouse gas registry, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Greenhouse Gas Registry Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Carbon dioxide equivalent.--The term ``carbon dioxide 
        equivalent'' means, for each greenhouse gas, the quantity of 
        the greenhouse gas that the Administrator determines, pursuant 
        to section 4, makes the same contribution to global warming as 
        1 metric ton of carbon dioxide.
            (3) Climate registry.--The term ``Climate Registry'' means 
        the greenhouse gas emission registry jointly established and 
        managed by more than 40 States and Indian tribes to collect 
        greenhouse gas emission data from entities to support various 
        greenhouse gas emission reporting and reduction policies for 
        the member States and Indian tribes.
            (4) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means, for 
        each calendar year--
                    (A) a facility within the electric power sector 
                that contains a fossil fuel-fired electricity 
                generating unit or units that together emit more than 
                10,000 carbon dioxide equivalents of greenhouse gas in 
                that year;
                    (B) an industrial facility that emits more than 
                10,000 carbon dioxide equivalents of greenhouse gas in 
                that year;
                    (C) a facility that produces, or an entity that 
                imports or exports, in that year refined or semirefined 
                petroleum-based, or coal-based, liquid fuel;
                    (D) a local distribution company that in that year 
                delivers natural gas;
                    (E) to the extent that the Administrator considers 
                necessary to achieve the purposes described in section 
                3, an entity selling or distributing electric energy or 
                an independent system operator;
                    (F) a facility that produces for sale or 
                distribution, or an entity that imports, in that year 
                more than 10,000 carbon dioxide equivalents of 
                hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur 
                hexafluoride, any other anthropogenic gas designated by 
                the Administrator as a greenhouse gas under section 5, 
                or any combination thereof;
                    (G) a site at which carbon dioxide is geologically 
                sequestered on a commercial scale; and
                    (H) any other entity that the Administrator 
                determines is appropriate in order to carry out the 
                purposes set forth in section 3.
            (5) Facility.--The term ``facility'' means one or more 
        buildings, structures, or installations of an entity on one or 
        more contiguous or adjacent properties located in the United 
        States.
            (6) Geologically sequestered.--The term ``geologically 
        sequestered'' means the isolation of greenhouse gases, without 
        reversal, in geological formations, as determined by the 
        Administrator.
            (7) Greenhouse gas.--The term ``greenhouse gas'' means any 
        of--
                    (A) carbon dioxide;
                    (B) methane;
                    (C) nitrous oxide;
                    (D) sulfur hexafluoride;
                    (E) a hydrofluorocarbon;
                    (F) a perfluorocarbon; or
                    (G) any other anthropogenic gas designated by the 
                Administrator as a greenhouse gas under section 5.
            (8) Greenhouse gas emission.--The term ``greenhouse gas 
        emission'' means an emission of a greenhouse gas, including--
                    (A) stationary combustion source emissions emitted 
                as a result of combustion of fuels in stationary 
                equipment, such as boilers, furnaces, burners, 
                turbines, heaters, incinerators, engines, flares, and 
                other similar sources;
                    (B) process emissions consisting of emissions from 
                chemical or physical processes other than combustion;
                    (C) fugitive emissions consisting of intentional 
                and unintentional emissions from equipment leaks, such 
                as joints, seals, packing, and gaskets, or from piles, 
                pits, cooling towers, and other similar sources; and
                    (D) biogenic emissions resulting from biological 
                processes, such as anaerobic decomposition, 
                nitrification, and denitrification.
            (9) Industrial facility.--The term ``industrial facility'' 
        means--
                    (A) any facility in the manufacturing sector (as 
                defined in North American Industrial Classification 
                System codes 31, 32, and 33);
                    (B) any natural gas processing plant; and
                    (C) any other facility that produces petroleum-
                based or coal-based liquid fuel.
            (10) Local distribution company.--The term ``local 
        distribution company'' has the meaning given that term in 
        section 2(17) of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C. 
        3301(17)).
            (11) Reversal.--The term ``reversal'' means an intentional 
        or unintentional release to the atmosphere of a significant 
        quantity, as determined by the Administrator, of greenhouse gas 
        that was sequestered.
            (12) Sequestered.--The term ``sequestered'' means the 
        separation, isolation, or removal of greenhouse gases from the 
        atmosphere, as determined by the Administrator.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to establish a Federal greenhouse gas registry that--
                    (A) is national in scope;
                    (B) is complete, consistent, and transparent; and
                    (C) will collect reliable and accurate data that 
                can be used by public and private entities to design 
                and implement efficient and effective energy security 
                initiatives and greenhouse gas emission reduction 
                strategies, including a mandatory, multisector 
                emissions trading scheme or emissions reduction 
                program; and
            (2) to provide the Administrator better direction and 
        clarity than has been provided in previous laws with respect to 
        the United States need for greenhouse gas emission information.

SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT VALUE OF GREENHOUSE 
              GASES.

    (a) Initial Determination.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall--
            (1) determine the quantity of each greenhouse gas that 
        makes the same contribution to global warming as 1 metric ton 
        of carbon dioxide; and
            (2) publish such determination in the Federal Register.
    (b) Methodology.--In determining the quantity of a gas that makes 
the same contribution to global warming as 1 metric ton of carbon 
dioxide under this section or section 5, the Administrator shall take 
into account publications by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change or a successor organization under the United Nations.

SEC. 5. DESIGNATION OF GREENHOUSE GASES.

    The Administrator shall--
            (1) designate as a greenhouse gas, for purposes of this 
        Act, any directly emitted anthropogenic gas that is included in 
        the Inventory of United States Greenhouse Gases and Sinks, 1 
        metric ton of which makes the same or greater contribution to 
        global warming as 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide, as determined 
        by the Administrator; and
            (2) publish, and update as necessary, in the Federal 
        Register such designation, including the quantity of the gas 
        that the Administrator determines makes the same contribution 
        to global warming as 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide.

SEC. 6. REPORTING OF GREENHOUSE GASES.

    Not later than July 1, 2011, and annually thereafter, each covered 
entity shall report to the Administrator the greenhouse gas emissions 
of the covered entity for the prior calendar year, in accordance with 
the regulations issued under section 7.

SEC. 7. REGULATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than July 1, 2009, the Administrator 
shall issue regulations establishing a Federal greenhouse gas registry 
that achieves the purposes described in section 3. Such regulations 
shall--
            (1) ensure the completeness, consistency, transparency, 
        accuracy, precision, and reliability of data submitted by 
        covered entities on--
                    (A) greenhouse gas emissions in the United States; 
                and
                    (B) the production and manufacture in the United 
                States, and importation into the United States, of 
                fuels and other products the uses of which result in 
                greenhouse gas emissions;
            (2) take into account the best practices from the most 
        recent Federal, State, tribal, and international protocols for 
        the measurement, accounting, reporting, and verification of 
        greenhouse gas emissions, including protocols from the Climate 
        Registry and other mandatory State or multistate authorized 
        programs;
            (3) take into account the latest scientific research;
            (4) require that, wherever feasible, submitted data are 
        monitored using monitoring systems for fuel use, fuel flow, or 
        emissions, such as continuous emission monitoring systems or 
        systems of equivalent precision, reliability, accessibility, 
        and timeliness;
            (5) require that, if a covered entity is already using a 
        continuous emission monitoring system to monitor mass 
        greenhouse gas emissions under a provision of law in effect as 
        of the date of enactment of this Act that is consistent with 
        this Act, that system be used to monitor submitted data;
            (6) require reporting at least annually, beginning with 
        reporting on the emission of greenhouse gases during calendar 
        year 2010;
            (7) include methods for minimizing double reporting and 
        avoiding irreconcilable double reporting of greenhouse gas 
        emissions;
            (8) include protocols to prevent covered entities from 
        avoiding reporting requirements;
            (9) include strict protocols for verification of submitted 
        data;
            (10) establish a means for electronic reporting;
            (11) ensure verification and auditing of submitted data;
            (12) establish consistent policies for calculating carbon 
        content and greenhouse gas emissions for each type of fossil 
        fuel reported;
            (13) provide for immediate public dissemination on the 
        Internet of all verified data reported under this Act that are 
        not--
                    (A) vital to the national security of the United 
                States, as determined by the President; or
                    (B) confidential business information that cannot 
                be derived from information that is otherwise 
                publically available and that would cause significant 
                calculable competitive harm if published (except that 
                information relating to greenhouse gas emissions shall 
                not be considered to be confidential business 
                information); and
            (14) prescribe methods by which the Administrator shall, in 
        cases in which satisfactory data are not submitted to the 
        Administrator for any period of time--
                    (A) replace the missing data with a best estimate 
                of emission levels that may have occurred during the 
                period for which data are missing, in order to ensure 
                that emissions are not underreported or overreported 
                and to create a strong incentive for meeting data 
                monitoring and reporting requirements; and
                    (B) take appropriate enforcement action.
    (b) Information Gathering Authorities.--For purposes of carrying 
out this Act and the regulations under this section, the Administrator 
shall have the same authority as the Administrator has under section 
114 of the Clean Air Act.

SEC. 8. INTERRELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER SYSTEMS.

    (a) In General.--The regulations issued under section 7 shall take 
into account the work done by the Climate Registry and other mandatory 
State or multistate authorized programs, and shall explain the major 
differences in approach between the system established under the 
regulations and the respective registries or programs.
    (b) No Preemption.--Nothing in this Act preempts any State or 
regional greenhouse gas registry efforts.

SEC. 9. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Civil Actions.--The Administrator may bring a civil action in a 
United States district court against any entity that fails to comply 
with any requirement promulgated pursuant to section 7.
    (b) Penalty.--Any person that has violated or is violating 
regulations promulgated pursuant to section 7 shall be subject to a 
civil penalty of not more than $25,000 per day for each violation.
    (c) Penalty Adjustment.--For each fiscal year after the fiscal year 
in which this Act is enacted, the Administrator shall, by regulation, 
adjust the penalty specified in subsection (b) to reflect changes for 
the 12-month period ending the preceding November 30 in the Consumer 
Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics of the Department of Labor.

SEC. 10. EFFECT ON OTHER PROVISIONS.

    Nothing in this Act, or regulations issued pursuant to this Act, 
shall affect or be construed to affect the regulatory status of carbon 
dioxide or any other greenhouse gas, or to expand or limit regulatory 
authority regarding carbon dioxide or any other greenhouse gas, for 
purposes of the Clean Air Act. The previous sentence shall not affect 
implementation and enforcement of this Act.
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