Deadline Approaches For First Time Massachusetts Greenhouse Gases Reports

Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. - Massachusetts Environmental & Land Use Alert, 2010

Many facilities in Massachusetts will be required to submit first-time annual greenhouse gas inventory reports to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP) by April 15, 2010. This annual reporting requirement was established under M.G.L. c. 21N, the Climate Protection and Green Economy Act, St. 2008, c. 298, §6, and by Mass DEP regulations adopted in 2009 at 310 CMR 7.71.

The reporting requirements apply to any entity owning, operating or controlling a facility that either:

(i) emitted any amount of regulated greenhouse gases during calendar year 2009 and is otherwise required to report emissions to Mass DEP under the major source air operating permit program (Title V Program), administered in Massachusetts pursuant to 310 CMR 7.00, Appendix C; or

(ii) emitted greenhouse gases in calendar year 2009 from one or more stationary sources in an amount of at least 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.

Reporting is required only for the emissions of the following greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. Carbon dioxide equivalents are established in a protocol published by The Climate Registry, a non-profit greenhouse gas standard setting organization.

For those entities required to report, Mass DEP has adopted the calculation methodologies established in a general reporting protocol issued by The Climate Registry in 2008 and updated in 2009. The  methodologies can be found at the following link: http://www.theclimateregistry.org/resources/protocols/general-reporting-protocol/. 

In many cases the calculation methodologies adopted by Mass DEP vary from those adopted for greenhouse gas reporting under the new federal reporting rule, 40 CFR Part 98, and therefore it is important that facilities required to report under both rules carefully review the differences. The federal rule applies to facilities in specified source categories with annual greenhouse gas emissions of at least 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, covering a wider range of greenhouse gases. The first annual reports under the federal program are not due until 2011.

For further information on greenhouse gas reporting, please contact Stephen Richmond at srichmond@bdlaw.com.