On Sept. 12, the United States Environmental Protection Agency proposed to permanently remove the requirement for 46 emission source categories of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program to report greenhouse gas emissions information after 2024.
The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program requires large emission sources, fuel and gas suppliers and CO2 injection sites in the United States to report their gas emissions each year.
The proposed change to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is in accordance with President Trump’s executive order 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation”. The aim of this order is to “promote prudent financial management and alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens,” per the White House website.
“This is what we are starting to see from this administration as to how they approach policy- that they want to remove data and information from informing policy. And that’s really sad,” Geology Professor Lyman Persico said.
The proposed cut would deregulate 46 source categories including iron and steel production, industrial waste landfills and cement production. Cement production alone contributed 39.71 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the U.S. during 2023.
“I think it is very reflective of the current administration,” said Sequoia Dukes ’27, an Environmental Studies and Biology major. “[They’re re]laxing the laws and roles and policies that these industries have to follow.”
Dukes plans to pursue an environmental career after college and hopes to focus on marginalized communities. With recent cuts to agencies such as the EPA, Dukes worries about her future career path and the future of other environmental agencies.
“It’s definitely a constant conversation I have with my peers and professors here at Whitman. It just all seems so dooming,” Dukes said. “The advice I’ve been given is you can only do what you can do right now.”
The EPA estimates that the proposed action would save $303 million per year, but some of those in the Whitman community believe in a different approach.
“Facts show that the cost of energy currently generated from solar, wind and nuclear sources are far less expensive than that of fossil fuels,” Chemistry Professor Frank Dunnivant, who holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, said in an email to The Wire.
With looming changes to the EPA’s reporting program, Dunnivant believes that a shift to renewable energy sources would provide both cost-effective and clean energy throughout the United States.
“Simple supply-demand, benefit-cost economics will rule our future energy generation, no matter how many politicians are bought by the fossil fuel industry,” Dunnivant said.
Ultimately, he believes that the efficiency of renewable energy will ensure its use in the future, even if the EPA deregulates greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA’s decision is not yet final, as the organization will consider public comment before approving changes to their reporting program. A virtual public hearing will be held over Zoom on Oct. 1, starting at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. The EPA will also accept comments for 47 days after the proposal is published in the “Federal Register.”
“I don’t think things will change without a push. There’s definitely a push that needs to happen,” Dukes said.
“We as Americans want our policies informed based not on opinions, but on fact and data. By not collecting the data, it allows you to make a policy that is not informed by factual evidence,” Persico said. “For us to have a functioning society, we need to have an accurate representation of the society that we live in and numbers and data are a huge important part of that.”
As of 2023, over 8,000 facilities reported to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Every October, the information is made available to the public and is used across science disciplines ranging from geology to public health. Persico explained how much of this data is even used at a global scale. Without this information, Persico worries about de-emphasis on climate policies not only in the United States, but globally.
“Those numbers we combine with other countries so we can get a sense of globally how greenhouse gas emissions are changing over time,” Persico said. “It’s really unfortunate that if these proposals go through we won’t be collecting this absolutely critical data.”
Dukes warns that the absence of data in the future won’t erase the widespread impacts of emissions on real people.
“Pollution is not going away, these emissions are not going away and the people being impacted by them are not going away either,” Dukes said. “The best we can do is keep trying.”
The proposed rule change to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is creating uneasiness in the Whitman community and beyond, but some remain hopeful that the virtual public hearing and public comment period will provide a chance for climate activists to voice their concerns.
